Double Edged Sword
by RedtheForgetful
Summary: Follow the story of Axel as he joins Night Raid in his journy of revenge against the Capital! Pairings include: AkamexOC [Axel], LubbockxNajenda, TatsumixMine, etc Might contain suggestive scenes, gore, and coarse language. You've been warned.
1. Chapter 1

**Hello All, Red here hoping you enjoy my latest story, review if you wish, criticism is always appreciated.**

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" _Block, Dodge, Counter_." I repeated those in my head. Currently those were my only options. I have little room or time to initiate an attack, nor can I risk turning tail and run away without withstanding a fatal blow. So all I can do is hold my ground and hope for an opening. The attacks seem to follow a pattern. Lunge, sweep, dash, retreat. I know the pattern, but if the whole series didn't happen so fast, I might have room to squeeze in an attack. Unfortunately, the risk are too high to even risk letting up for longer than a moment.

My name is Axel, and at the moment, I'm fighting a battle I didn't start. As usual. I was walking through the woods when I sensed a presence lung out towards me. I barely turned in time to avoid a downwards slash aimed to cleave my arm off. Acting on instinct, my teigu activated partially, covering my hands and forearms in two metal gauntlets. My left fist was covered in a dark golden metal that had risen bumps around the knuckles and a bulky wrist guard. My right fist was covered in a dull red metal that fit tightly around my hand with a less bulky wrist guard. While it wasn't as bulky as the left gauntlet, the fingertips ended in sharp, slightly extended points, claws almost. _"Damn, only a partial activation!"_ I thought hurriedly as I continued to defend myself.

My hooded attacker continued to slash at me as I backpedaled away, the tip of the sword centimeters away. I needed to find an opening and exploit it soon while my energy held out. But how am I supposed to do that against an opponent so well trained that there is no holes? I'll just have to improvise, though the idea I have in mind could very well end in my demise. As my attacker's blade is thrust towards me once more, I side step the attack and reach out towards the blade with my hand.

To those who recognize the attacker, a single cut from this blade is fatal and completely likely to happen when one attempts to block it with the naked hand. Lucky for me, my teigu covers my arm from the fingertips to my shoulder. I grab the blade firmly and began to trust it to the side with the intent using my enhanced strength to throw the user off balance. My improvised counter is met with mild success in the form of creating an opening for my escape. As the assailant swings wide to compensate for the failed attempt, I charge forward, blocking the blade with my left arm which is sheathed in armor, while reeling my right fist back in preparation for an attack. As I close the gap, my arm springs forward aiming for the face of my opponent. However the attacker barely dodges, but my fist catches the rim of the hood, knocking it off in the process.  
Before my eyes I'm met with two large red orbs framed by long flowing black hair. Judging from the height and appearance, my attacker can't be any older than me, and I'm only 17. Taking this new information in, I begin to realize just what I'm up against. My mind flashes back to a stroll around the capital where multiple wanted papers were taped to the walls. Each containing an image and cash reward for the heads of assassins wanted by the capital for various crimes. Of all the criminals listed, the one with the highest reward was Akame, wielder of the Demon Sword Murasame. And as my luck so has it, she happens to be attempting to lop my head off.

Despite the threat of immediate death, she was, by every sense of the word, a real treat for the eyes. However, this wasn't the time to be ogling.

" _This is beyond bad….I'm fighting the most dangerous criminal known to the capital…I gotta do something…and fast…"_ I thought frantically as I continued to avoid Akame's potent blade. " _I hadn't really seen it as an option, but I suppose I'll have to rely on my teigu's innate powers now"_ I thought. I began to concentrate on two elements: Fire and Lightening. Two deadly elements that I had at my disposal. As I concentrated, I felt my teigu respond and begin welling power in my fist. After a brief delay, I swung my right fist downward in a swiping motion, creating a wave of fire in the process. This seemed to catch Akame off guard, causing her to back off, allowing me to open some distance between us. However, I didn't let up, thrusting my other are forward releasing an arc of lightening towards her position. Despite the near instant speed of my attack, she managed to dodge it, the attack colliding with a nearby tree, ripping it apart while setting it on fire. " _Seriously! This girl can dodge lightening!? That's…..that's inhuman!"_ I thought. I was running out of options, if neither of my teigu's elemental attacks could hit her, than that'd leaves me with little more option than to continue defending, however I can feel my energy draining with every hit I block from her sword. " _I'm not going to last much longer!"_ I started to panic sensing my incoming doom. Using the momentary pause in blocking, I fully activated my teigu. The bumps on my left arm transformed into spikes and the points on my right fingertips sharpened into claws while the material around my forearms lightened to cover up to my shoulders.

Not a moment after completing my activation, she charged me again, sword positioned to cut across my chest. Instead of backing off I dodged forward into the attack, using my now covered forearms to block the swing. Utilizing the close proximity, I quickly grabbed her wrist holding Murasame, which she answered to by grabbing for a dagger behind her, aimed at stabbing me in the neck. I reacted immediately, latching on to her other arm as well, now having subdued both arms within my grasp.

"Why are you attacking me? Who sent you? What do you stand to gain from killing me?!" I asked frantically, hoping to use this pause to get at least some answers. She responded in a calm and collected manner as if a life or death battle wasn't taking place. "I am Akame of Night Raid, and I've come to assassinate you by order of the Revolutionary Army. They've been tracking you for the past day and witnessed you wielding this teigu, the Gauntlets of Divinity. They've marked you as a high-risk individual and have ordered the collection of your teigu by any means necessary."

" _Me, a high-risk individual?! I haven't even done anything! I'm really beginning to believe that ever since I came across these things, they've been nothing but trouble!"_ I thought to myself."I don't know why they think what they do, but I can assure you I want nothing to do with the affairs of them or the capital!" I respond. "While I have no personal grudge against you, I am simply following the mission objective I've been given" She states before kneeing me in the stomach rapidly in an attempt to make me lose my grip. Her attack succeeds, causing me to drop to one knee, before immediately rolling to avoid the slash she threw at me. At this point I'm starting to run on fumes as my teigu's activation limit comes close. I can feel sweat running down my face while she hasn't even broken a sweat.

We continue to trade blows until she sweeps my feet causing me to stumble and fall backwards. She decided to take advantage of my blunder and jump on top of me. Now she was straddling my hips with her sword positioned above my neck, ready to slit my throat and end this battle. "Are you really okay with killing an innocent just because you were ordered to?! Do you lack a conscience like some cold-blooded killer?" I attempted to reason out of desperation. "It is obvious that many shall, regardless of their allegiances, before the new country comes to realization. As someone working towards achieving this goal, I've accepted this fact." She answers coldly. As her blade slowly inches closer towards my neck, I feel the last of my strength evaporate, signaling the limit of my teigu's activation. This causes them to transform back to their base for, a pair of red and yellow fingerless gloves respectively. "Well, that's just great…" I mutter in despair as I lay there waiting for Akame's blade to end me. I wait, than I wait some more, but it never comes. She simply sits there on top of me, her blade hovering centimeters above my neck.

"Well, what are you waiting for?! Finish me off. That was your mission wasn't it." I ask confused. "That won't be necessary" Says a mature feminine voice somewhere in the woods. "Who said that!?" I answer back, craning my head to look in the direction is coming from. From the woods emerges a silver haired woman dressed in black with what appeared to be a robotic arm in place of where her right arm used to be.

"Axel Winvell, wielder of the Gauntlets of Divine Wrath. I've had my eye on you for quite some time. I've been having the revolutionary army keep tabs on you ever since you first came in contact with that teigu and showed record-high compatibility levels. I have one question for you. How would you like to join Night Raid?" She asked suddenly. "Wait what?! You try to kill me, than you want me to join you?! What type of backwards logic is that?!" I yell back in disbelief.

"It's quite simple really" Akame decided to speak up. "The Revolutionary Army took interest in you, but had doubts where your allegiances fell. So they wanted to take the easy route and simply eliminate you and secure your teigu. However, boss saw that as a waste and decided to take a crack at recruiting you." "You can either join us in our fight against the capital or Akame can kill you and we'll simply find someone else who is compatible with your teigu. However, I doubt we'll find anyone with as high a level as yourself." Najenda summed up.

"How do I know this isn't a trap?" I questioned. "It's not a trap, I can assure you the fight against the capital is very real. However, if you betray us, we will hunt you down and end you" Najenda replied grimly as we continued our trek. After I agreed to join there organization, Najenda began the trek back to their base. We'd been walking for almost thirty minutes before coming across a large mountain that appeared to have a section cut out. In the cut out space was a large base of sorts. "Well this is our base. You know the consequences of telling our location." Najenda stated as we came to the front doors of the base. Upon entering the base, there were two individuals sitting on a large couch, I assumed they were also members of Night Raid. One had long purple hair and glasses and was dressed in a long purple dress. The other had pink hair in tied in twin tails. The one in purple was reading and the pink one was cleaning some type of rifle. They both looked up when we made our entrance.

"Welcome back boss!" The purple haired girl greeted, "Who's this guy? Another new recruit? Don't you think we have enough dead weight with Tatsumi around?" The pink haired girl chimed in arrogantly. "Greetings Sheele, and Mine you should refrain from talking about your teammates in such a way, your relationship with them could be the difference between life and death. Sheele smiled warmly at me, while Mine simply pouted and turned back to what she was doing. "Don't worry, Mine is always untrusting of new members. Anyway, Mine go alert the others, were having a meeting to discuss our plans for the next few days as well as introduce our newest member.

Moments later we've all gathered into a large meeting room where I'm greeted by many new faces. There is large man who goes by the name Bulat, a busty young woman named Leone, another man with green hair who went by Lubbock, and someone in a sweater with brown hair known as Tatsumi. "This, everyone, is Axel and he will be joining us from now on. He shows great promise and skill in his abilities. He even has a teigu" She says motioning to me, upon which I partially activate my gauntlets, the two materializing before them. "Hah, he's already more useful than Tatsumi!" Mine spoke up, angering the one known as Tatsumi. I simply sweat dropped at the scene. The started to bicker back and forth before being silenced by Bulat. "Hey you two, this isn't time to be bickering." He spoke up before redirecting his attention my way. "Welcome to the club, you can call me Bro or Handsome." He stated. _"Is this guy gay…."_ I thought. "He looks cutes like Tatsumi, but more mature…" Leone commented, making me feel a bit uncomfortable.

"Formalities aside, Akame you will be responsible for Axel for the time being. Meeting adjourned" Najenda stated. "Wait! What do you mean she'll be _responsible_ for me?!"I questioned. Najenda simply winked at me and walked out of the room, everyone else, but Akame following suit, leaving the two of us sitting in the room. An air of awkwardness hanging over the room. "Axel." She spoke up, "I hope you don't hate me for attacking you earlier, Najenda wanted to gauge your skill." I stared at while contemplating here explanation. "There are better methods than randomly attacking" I stated coldly. "It was the only way to determine your skill in a real battle situation, Najenda said she sees a great potential within you." She added. I stared into her eyes, looking for any malice or deceit, but found none. _"I suppose I can't be mad at her for following orders."_ I decided. "I won't hold a grudge against you, you don't seem like a bad person anyway." I said, crossing the distance between us. "From this point onward, you're my precious comrade, so I hope we can get along" She said, a warm smile forming on her face. That was the first emotion I'd seen from her since I met her, and to sum it up in one word: _wow._

The rest of the day went by quickly as I got more acquainted with my fellow members. Tatsumi and Lubbock seemed close and were quick to accept me. Sheele and Leone were nothing but friendly, Leone in more of a flirty way. Mine was still somewhat distant, when she did acknowledge my existence she was somewhat rude. Tatsumi explained that she treated him the same way.

Close to dinner time, Akame took me and Tatsumi to a lake that was apparently filled with large fish. She stated that we'd be having fish for dinner, before starting to strip, catching both me and Tatsumi off guard. "Uhh what are you doing" I questioned. "We have to catch the fish first" she said as she appeared in a white bikini. She dove in and immediately jumped into the water. Tatsumi and I turned to each other, an unspoken, but understood challenge forming between us before we rapidly began undressing before we jumped in, competing to see who could get the most fish.

Half an hour later we were in the kitchen, cooking said fish, our little competition ending in disappointment as Akame out-did the both of us. Well to be more precise, Tatsumi was chopping vegetables while Akame instructed me on how to cook, as I was rather clueless in that area. She stood behind me observing as I descaled and filleted the fish. "Your cutting to deep, the fillet doesn't need to be too thick or it won't cook properly." She corrected, taking my hand in hers and guiding my cuts. After we finished cutting the fish and setting it to cook, Akame stated that I could relax saying she could finish up there. Taking my leave, I walked out of the kitchen into the hallway.

Lubbock was standing in the middle of the hall, as if waiting for me to exit. As I began walking towards my room, he closed the distance between us, an upset look on his face. "How could you" He stated. "How could I what?" I replied. "How could you waltz in and steal all the girls from me!" He half-yelled. Upon him saying this, I could tell where this was going. Tatsumi informed me of his inferiority complex. It was quite obvious he had a thing for Najenda, but he saw any significant interaction with the female members as a direct challenge. It was quite irritating. "Okay look, I'm tired and don't want to deal with your crap right now." I said, edging past him. He grabbed my shoulder, halting my progression. "Don't brush me off! This is a serious matter!" he attempted to reply. At that point, I just grabbed his arm and slammed him into a wall, slightly over doing it making a dent in the wall. "Like I said, I don't know what you're talking about." I stated angrily and continued walking off.

The next day we all gathered in the courtyard, presumably for training. I was sitting on the sidelines for the time being watching the other members spar back and forth. As Tatsumi and Bulat finish sparring, or rather Bulat got tired of chasing Tatsumi, Najenda told me and Lubbock to step forward. This will be interesting.

"Alright you two, try not to kill each other." Najenda stated, signaling us to begin. From what I've been told, Lubbock's teigu isn't necessarily offensive. I decided to rush in before he could set anything up, closing the distance in seconds. I'd already partially activated my gauntlets and sent a punch aimed at his chest. The punch connected sending him flying backwards. However he sent his strings out and stopped his flight by winding strings around trees and part of the nearby building. "That was a nasty punch, if I hadn't wrapped these strings around my chest you would have broken more than a few ribs." Lubbock said with a hint of irritation in his voice. He began casting out his strings around him, setting up some kind of trap. He obviously didn't want me getting close to him again. After a couple moments of watching him set his threads, I got tired of waiting and charged forward, a strategy forming in my head. As I got close to his traps, he suddenly pulled back both his arms, setting his traps in motion. "Charging head first into my trap was a foolish idea!" He yelled, his threads began wrapping around my legs and arms in an attempt to tangle me and halt my position. I didn't try overly hard to escape his threads. He was able to bind my legs and right arm, however he wasn't able to trap my left arm. My left arm was all I needed though. I reached out to one of his threads with my free arm and grabbed a hold of it.

"Sorry about this, bro." I said. He looked at me at me with a confused expression before sudden realization became evident on his face. He desperately began trying to cut the threads, but it was too late. I sent a moderate electrical charge through the string. The attack got there in an instant, shocking Lubbock, causing him to fall limp to the ground. After that his strings fell away harmlessly. "Did I overdo it…?" I asked, genuinely worried.

"He should be fine…I think" Najenda commented as Bulat dragged him off. "Your next opponent will be Akame." She stated, signaling Akame to step forward a bokken in her grasp. She got into a fighting stance and I followed suit. She'd have the range advantage with that sword, but since it's just a bokken and not Murasame, I'll be able to fight a bit less cautiously. "Begin" Najenda sound signaling the both of us to charge forward. She raised her sword in a striking position and brought it down when we got close. I raised my arm and blocked the attack, halting the sword. _"Damn, I stopped the attack, but it still hurt do to the momentum when she charged forward. She must have been holding back the first time because she wasn't supposed to kill me. I'll have to limit the amount of times she hits me, blocks included."_ I thought. I jumped backwards and let loose a bolt of lightning which she effortlessly dodged. _"Her speed is insane, if I can confine her to a small area, I can fight her in close proximity where my teigu truly shines."_ I strategized. I began sprinting around her, she got into a defensive stance in response. I began trailing my right arm across the ground, lighting it on fire as I went along. After the ring of fire was sufficient, I jumped into the ring myself. "There, no if you try to run, you'll be burned quite harshly" I stated smugly. She didn't respond, simply stared back at me waiting for me to attack. Taking the bait, I ran forward. I thrust my fist forward which she responded to by using her bokken to block the punch. She seemed to understand that she'd be unable to get a proper swing in without creating a hole in her defense. We continued clashing for a moment before I swiped my right hand downward, creating a wave of fire in the process. This forced her to back off, but not without being burned slightly on her left shoulder. _"Hm so she has a tough time guarding against ranged attacks at point blank range"_ I deduced. _"I'll charge her closer and closer to the wall, and pin her. That way, she'll have no other choice but to yield, else she get burned. Hopefully it won't come to that"_ I planned. I rocketed forward once more with the intent of punching her in the gut, but she sprinted out of the way, stopping after circling around. I quickly whirled around and blocked a downward slice aimed at my shoulder. The impact still inflicting some of its damage upon the arm I used to block it. We continued to clash back and forth.

 **[AN: Third Person]**

"He's holding up pretty well, I'm starting to see this potential you spoke off earlier." Leone commented to Najenda as they continued to watch from the sidelines, wincing whenever Axel wasn't able to block an attack. "He is holding up rather well considering Akame is holding back only slightly." Najenda added, "However I can see from here that his energy and his patience are wearing thin." As if on cue, Axel charged forward rather aggressively, a wild look in his eyes. Both his gauntlets raised readying for his next attack. Akame gathered her stance in a defensive manner, raising the sword to meet his first attack. His right fist collided with the bokken and an audible crack rang through the yard. "I see what he's trying to do, if he can destroy her weapon, he'll be victorious." Leone stated. "That seems about right, but he is running on fumes at this point. From what I've read on his teigu, which isn't much, the speed and power buff it gives is great, but very draining in the long run. His ranged attacks even more so." Najenda explained.

Axel kept up his attack against Akame, slowly lowering the integrity of the bokken with each clash. He had to break the bokken if he wanted to win and he had to do so before he ran out of energy. He decided that the next hit would decide it as he jumped backwards. Pouring the last of his energy into his right hand, charged forward with his fist primed to attack. His fist suddenly lit ablaze before he sprung forward striking Akame's bokken. A crack formed in the bokken before the bokken snapped in half. Akame had a look of shock on her face as the blade flew past her face, grazing her slightly.

"Okay that's enough. Good job both of you." Najenda spoke up. Akame lowered her now broken bokken and Axel took a knee, breathing hard. Najenda walked forward towards Axel till she was standing over him. "You did very well Axel, however you have to work on your stamina or you'll never last. **[AN: Be it in battle or otherwise….Sorry couldn't help it XD]** With that she walked back inside as did everyone else but Akame and Axel, once again leaving the two alone. Akame walked over to Axel, who was still trying to catch his breath, and held her hand out towards him. She had a warm smile on her face, clearly satisfied with their battle.

"You did very well" she praised. "I couldn't find any holes in your defense, so I had to make one" He replied, slightly blushing from her compliment. "Now let's go tend to your bruises" she said, taking his hand in hers and leading her away. For the time being he went with it. _"This isn't so bad I suppose, it's a hell of a lot better than my past situation"_ He thought, not paying attention to where she was leading them till they got to their destination. He finally looked up to see they'd gone into her room. "Wait, why did we come to your room?! I thought we'd just go to the infirmary!" He questioned. "I keep medical supplies in my room and it was closer. Now sit" She said, motioning to sit on the bed against the wall beside her. He begrudgingly set down between her and the headboard. After he set down, she began reaching for his shirt. "What are you doing" Axel questions, halting her movement. "I have to tend to the bruises under your shirt" She replies plainly, unable to see the harm in doing so. "…Fine..." He replied, knowing he wouldn't be able to convince her based on the look in her eyes. With his permission, she once again reached for his shirt, beginning to lift it up before being interrupted once again, but this time by Lubbock who happened to be walking bye in the hallway. "I can't believe you!" He shouted, sounding hurt. "We leave you alone for fifteen minutes an-" He cut off as Axel shot him in the chest with a weak bolt of lightning, completely fed up with his banter. Najenda appeared in the doorway next, probably following the sound of Lubbock's shouting, "I assume he was giving you a hard time. I'll take him from here" she said calmly, grabbing him and slinging him over her shoulder. "Take care." She added, closing the door on her way out.

 **[AN: Okay, so I'm sure you've all noticed that I never gave a description of what Axel looked like. This wasn't really purposeful, but since the beginning jumped straight into action, I couldn't think of a way to making everything run together smoothly. So I'll give the shorthand now: Axel is 5'6 with a lean, but somewhat muscular body type. He has a black skin tone and black hair that is of short height with faded sides. Somewhat muscular. His current outfit consist of a black sleeveless shirt that was tight fitting, imagine something akin to a wetsuit but sleeveless. He also had on tan cargo shorts and simple white tennis shoes.]**

Without any further instructions, Akame took off Axel's shirt and her eyes widened. Axel had a number of scars on his chest ranging from a few smaller cuts to one long cut that trailed from his left shoulder down to right above his abs. Akame stared at the wound for a moment before unconsciously reaching up and placing her hand on his chest, over the top of the scar. Axel didn't stop her movements, simply letting her continue with observations. Shortly after, a blush appeared on her face as she withdrew her hand sharply, muttering a quick apology. She then proceeded to grab ointment and wrapping and tended to the bruises on his midsection and areas of his arms where he blocked her strikes. "You must be pretty strong for your strikes to translate damage through my armor" Axel praised. Akame nodded, not looking up from her work. Twenty minutes passed, and she had finished tending to his wounds and began packing up the medical supplies when Axel stopped her, causing her to look up at him. "We aren't done yet." He stated, reaching over her into the medical supplies. He grabbed a small Band-Aid and placed it over the cut on her cheek. He then reached over lap to the medical supplies, grasping a tube of burn cream and some gauze. "I can tend to my wounds" she said, however he wasn't having any of it. "Nonsense, you helped me, so it's natural I help you. That's what comrades are for aren't they" He said with a smile. She blushed at his statement before allowing him to continue. He squeezed some of the cream into his hand before rubbing it lightly onto her shoulder. He then wrapped the gauze around her shoulder, checking to make sure he hadn't typed it too tight. "Okay now we're done here" He stated, beginning to stand up, however Akame grabbed his arm, pulling him back downward. "Um…If you don't mind…Can you tell me how **it** happened" she asked in a shy manner. He looked at her and set back down.

"I got this scar during a raid on my village 3 years ago. A squad of Imperial Soldiers had come into the village stating that we hadn't payed our taxes to the capital this month and that we had twenty minutes to come up with the money." He began, "When we were unable to do so, they began looting and destroying our homes and defiling everything in sight." Akame had inched closer as he spoke and was leaning softly against his shoulder. "A soldier had broken into our house and tried to rape my mother, however my father and I had started to fight him back. The soldier pulled out his sword and stabbed my dad in the chest, killing him, than he slashed me in the chest." He said, a hard look on his face. "I'll never forget the last things he told me. _"Never fight against the capital or you and those you love will face the consequences",_ than he left the house after setting it on fire, leaving my father dead and my mother crying over my slowly dying body." "When I woke up the next day, my village had been burned to the ground and most it's inhabitance had been perished. My mother and father included. Someone had pulled me out my burning house, but my mom had succumb to smoke. From that point on, I decided that I'd somehow get my revenge against the capital." He finished, determination burning in his eyes. After hearing this, Akame moved and wrapped her arms around him and laid her ahead against his chest. "I'm sorry for making you bring that up…"She trailed off. "It's okay really." He replied, returning her hug. The two of them simply sat there for a moment before a knock came at the door.

"Yo Akame! Axel! If you two are done licking each other's wounds, it's time for dinner." Leone yelled, before entering slightly, halting at the sight before her. "Whoops…did I interrupt something." she added with a confused face, "Sorry about that." She left, winking at the two of them, leaving the two blushing as they untangled. Once again standing up from the bed, he helped the Akame up. "Well I guess they're waiting on us. Let's go eat." He said, noting how Akame's eyes lit up when he said "eat". She walked towards the door and out into the hallway, a smile on her faced as the two of them headed towards the dining room.

Once everyone was seated at the table, everyone began eating and conversing amongst each other, Mine and Tatsumi bickered as usual, Sheele and Bulat made light conversation, Leone and Bulat were in debate over who was stronger, Lubbock was trying and failing to have a conversation with Najenda who simply giggled at his flailing, and Akame and Axel simply focused on the meal in front of them. "If Akame and I weren't there, who prepared the food?" Axel questioned. "Tatsumi of course, without Akame there to eat the ingredients, he was able to prepare dinner rather easily." Najenda spoke up, passing a glance at Akame who simply continued eating. "It's the only thing they've let me do since I got here" Tatsumi chimed in with a comically depressed look on his face. "Well that's subject to change because our next mission is one I want you, Akame, and Axel to deal with." Najenda stated, "We've received a request to assassinate Ogre of the Imperial Police Force. He's been accepting bribes from the oil merchant Gamal and framing innocent civilians for crimes they didn't commit." "Sounds like a real scumbag" Axel commented. "You should have seen him for yourself" Leone added, earning a laugh from the rest of the group as they went back to their meal.

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 **Thank you all to who got this far. Hopefully, I'll update this in the next week or two as finals are coming up and will undoubtedly take up most my time. Remember to read and review if you enjoyed this first chapter.**

 **Also, please tell me if I laid the AkamexAxel Fluff too thick. I was thinking that I kinda over did it while writing it and just want to know if I should tone it down.**


	2. Chapter 2

**[AN: Hello all! I didn't forget about this, despite my namesake…and track record. Here is the next chapter. By the way, the first chapter was 5k words, however most normal chapters will be around 2k to 3.5k. I decided this because for one thing, it will take less time and I can space things out better. Enjoy!]**

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" _According to the intel, today is Ogre's off day. On his off days, he's usually found in some bar. We'll take him out when he exits the bar."_ I went over the plan in my head again. It would be a simple mission, I'd lead Ogre to the alley, distract him, than Tatsumi would lop his head off. Simple. Akame would take care of guards that happened to leave the bar after Ogre.

I wore casual clothes and simply leaned against a wall as I waited for him to exit. It took a while, but eventually my ghastly target left. I trailed him for a while before confronting him. I walked up to him, "Hey aren't you the Imperial Police Captain" I questioned, trying to not sound suspicious. "Yea, who's asking" He replied in a rude and slightly drunken manner. When I say slightly, I mean moderately. I could smell the alcohol on his breath. "I have some information for you." I said. "Well spit it out, I don't have all day!" He demanded. "If you'll follow me somewhere more private, I'll be happy to share my information." I insisted, before walking off towards the alley where he'd his demise.

We arrived at the alleyway moments later, when I turned around to face him, my arms behind my back. "Well what information do you have for me?" He asked in an annoyed voice. "I spotted two members of Night Raid." I said. "Well, where did you see them!? Stop procrastinating and get to the point dammit!" Ogre responded, clearly getting more and more agitated. "Well, one of them is right in front of you." I said, face curling into a malicious grin. Ogre simply stared at me for a second, before busting out laughing. "What is this some type of ambush? You've got to be joking!" Ogre bellowed as he continued laughing. I simply stood there letting him laugh, when Tatsumi dropped down from his hiding spot above us, sword drawn. He fell down and cut a deep slash into Ogre's back, causing him to yell out in pain as he clawed at the wound on his back before falling onto the ground. "See I told you the plan would work" I said, glad that everything went according to plan. "It's not like I had any doubts" Tatsumi said. We were about to walk out, when I saw Tatsumi get sent flying in front of me. I turned around in horror to see a **very** pissed off Ogre standing over me, a scary look on his face. I quickly jumped away, activating my gauntlets in the process. "Did you really think it would take just one slash to kill me!?" He yelled angrily. He pulled out his sword and charged my raising his sword that bringing it down in an attempt to slice me in half. I quickly rolled to the side and jumped behind him before charging at his backside. I punch him in the back multiple times, but they didn't seem to faze him much. _"Damn, this guy is built like a brick!"_ Thought quickly. Suddenly, Tatsumi landed on the ground next to with a loud thud. "Ah, nice to see you've landed. How was the weather up there?" I joked. "Shut the hell up!" He replied comically as he got up and dusted himself off. "Hey you morons, now is not the time for jokes!" Ogre said as he came down with his sword once more, causing the both of us in opposite directions to avoid the attack.

Tatsumi ended up in front of him and me at his backside. Tatsumi immediately charged at him and they clashed swords, the difference in power evident as Ogre pushed him into the ground with brute force alone. I charged forward myself while they were locked in a clash and jumped on Ogre's back, wrapping my arms around his head. He started thrashing around crazily trying to throw me off and defend against Tatsumi's slashes. "Ogre of the Imperial Police! You will repent for your crimes!" I yelled as I violently pulled my arms apart, forcibly snapping Ogre's neck, killing him instantly. His limp body fell to the ground as I jumped off of it, landing next to Tatsumi who dusted himself off. "Nice job" He complimented. "Let's get back to base" I said as I ran off towards the rally point.

 **[AN: Third Person]**

Back at base, Tatsumi and Axel were praised for our first completed mission. "Good job both of you on completing your first mission." Najenda congratulated. "You've proved that you're of some use to us. I expect full reports from both of you by tomorrow." She ordered as she finished dismissing them. As they exited into the hallway, they saw Leone, Bulat, and Akame in there waiting for them. "Congrats on coming back alive you two!" Bulat said, "Yea Mine didn't think either of you were up for the task, but this is proof that the both of you are skilled." Leone continued. "Thanks, he wasn't that tough" Tatsumi chimed in, Axel nodding in agreement. "Well that should make this last part of your initiations rather easy" Leone said with a mischievous grin on her face. Axel had a bad feeling about this, like a small animal that was cornered by a bunch of predators ready to pounce.

His premonition proved correct as Bulat and Leone quickly ran behind the two and grabbed the two of them, holding them in place while Akame walked forward. "Hey what's going on here?!" Axel yelled. "Don't worry, Akame just wanted to check for any wounds." Leone said, stifling the urge to laugh at their predicament. "A comrade of mine died because he didn't get his wounds checked out." She explained as she began take off Tatsumi's clothes, checking for wounds as she went. When she examined his back, she saw a rather large boot-shaped bruise on his back from where Ogre had kicked him during their fight. She frowned a bit, but deemed as a minor injury. After she finished her examination, Bulat released his grip on Tatsumi, but didn't stop staring at him. _"Bulat's really creeping me out right now"_ Tatsumi thought in his head as he scrambled to put his clothes back on.

Akame than walked over to Axel, who was being held in place by Leone, and grabbed the hem of his short. _"Okay this is the second time she's undressed in the last 48 hours. Is this gonna be a normal occurrence?!"_ Axel thought frantically. She took off his shirt and began looking for any wounds, not finding any. She then took off his pants leaving him standing there in his boxers as she examined his legs for anything of concern. She didn't find anything there either. She stood up and stared him dead in the eyes before a warm smile appeared on her face. "I'm happy my comrades are okay, however I must ask how Tatsumi got that bruise on his back." She said as Leone released Axel. "Well about that, we conducted our original plan, however we under-estimated him thinking that one slash would kill him, which ended with Tatsumi getting kicked when we had our backs turned." Axel explained as he picked his clothes up off the ground and started to redress. "You can spare us the details for later, let's go celebrate!" Leone cheered, interrupting the minor debriefing.

Moments later they entered the living room, where Mine, Sheele, and Lubbock were lounging around. "Look whose back!" Lubbock shouted as they entered. "Wonderful to see you both survived your first missions, there tends to be a high mortality rate for first-timers," Sheele said. "I guess you're not totally useless…" Mine added in, the insult more directed at Tatsumi than Axel. "Okay enough small talk, where's the booze at!" Leone interjected once more.

 **[AN: Timeskip – 3 hours later – Living Room – Nighttime]**

The entire Night Raid crew was in the living room, spread out on furniture or the floor, most passed out from over-drinking or exhaustion. Bulat was knocked out on top of a table, Leone was sprawled out on the floor. Tatsumi and Mine had stopped bickering long enough to fall asleep together on one of the numerous couches in the living space, and Najenda was leaning against an unconscious Lubbock.

The only two members that weren't drunk out of their minds or asleep was Axel and Akame, mainly because neither drank. The two were both seated on one of the numerous couches in the room watching whatever was on television at that moment, when Axel broke the silence.

 **[AN: Axel's POV]**

"Hey Akame, you're pretty good at being an assassin." I complimented, "How'd you get into this line of work, if you don't mind me asking" I continued. She turned towards me before saying, "I was sold to the capital, along with my sister, by my parents. There we were trained to become assassins. For a while, I worked under the orders of the Capital, assassinating targets left and right. However, when I was assigned to kill Najenda, she managed to convince me to defect." She explained. "I'd been blindly following orders for so long, but the boss was able to open my eyes to the corruption of the Capital and those that governed it." She finished. "What happened to your sister? I pressed on, hoping I wasn't crossing any boundaries. She maintained the same look displaying no emotions, "My sister, Kurome, did not defect with me. She still works for the Capital. I'll personally be the one to end her if it comes to that." She said, with a scarily straight face. I was shocked to hear that she was ready to do such a deed.

 **[AN: Third Person]**

Deciding against any further questions, Axel leaned back in the couch and slowly let sleep overtake him as he tried not to think too hard over Akame's grim past. His mind continued to wander back and forth between details of Akame's explanation, causing him to unconsciously display a concerned and worried expression. Akame did not miss this face and spoke up, "I was trained to believe that completing the mission was all that mattered and to do so at any cost. I may no longer work under the Capital, but my new mission is to ensure the success of the revolution. So if my sister is to act against me and this mission, than I must act accordingly." While her comment did little to erase the thoughts from his minds, the expression on his face faded.

As sleep once again welcomed him in its arms, he felt a weight land on his shoulder. Looking over he saw Akame leaning against him as she too drifted off. "How has she handled this burden for so long…" He thought, a new concern gracing his mind before it was claimed by the release of sleep.

* * *

 **[AN: Okay I know I said, I'd take it easy on the fluff, but I have my reasons for this instance. 1. They are the main couple, and while I am probably rushing it a tad, I'd rather have their relationship set before more major portions of the story commence. 2. This chapter happens a month after the first chapter, and it makes sense, in my opinion, that there would be some progress. Either way, please leave feedback on this chapter, I did indeed pull back, but if it wasn't enough don't hesitate to point it out. Sorry that this chapter was considerably shorter than the first.**

 **~ Peace, Red.]**


	3. Chapter 3

**Obnoxiously long chapter inbound. Not dead. Kinda. Some might consider me a zombie at this point.**

* * *

 **[AN: Third Person]**

Everyone was gathered in the meeting hall and were being debriefed on their newest target. "Everyone, our next target is Zank the Beheader. He has committed a high number of gruesome murders within the capital walls, striking late at night. The specific numbers are unknown, but new bodies have been popping up frequently, usually missing their head." Najenda explained. "This guy is a monster and needs to be put down immediately. Akame, take Tatsumi and Axel and bring this man to justice. Also, be on your guard at all times, this man has a teigu, however, we aren't sure of what it does." Najenda warned.

"Hm, two teigu users against one, shouldn't be too hard. Might have to cover Tatsumi however" Mine teased. "What the hell" Tatsumi said, a comically depressed look on his face. "You three will mobilize after dark and search the city. DO NOT engage him alone. That is all" Najenda explained. The three of us nodded and set off to our quarters to prepare for our mission.

[Time skip]

Axel, Tatsumi, and Akame were patrolling the dark city streets waiting for their target to show up. So far, they had yet to see anything out of the ordinary. Akame and Tatsumi were taking a break while Axel was searching from up high. "I'll be right back" Tatsumi said, walking off to use the bathroom in an alleyway. Axel remained on the roof, when he suddenly saw Tatsumi run out of the alleyway.

 **[AN: Axel POV]**

I saw Tatsumi run off. "Hey! Where are you going!?" I shouted after him, taking off from my perch. Akame seemed to notice also, as she kept up behind me. We ran after him, till we saw him hugging a tall figure in an open walkway. "Who is he hugging?" I asked Akame, who responded "Guessing from the strange headpiece, that's Zank!" Akame noted. Hearing this, I sprinted forward, quickly closing the distance and yanking Tatsumi backwards away from the serial killer. Staring the target down, I could see a madness in his eyes, before bouncing back to my original position.

"Dammit Tatsumi, what the hell has gotten into you!" I scolded. He looked at me, than back at Zank, "I saw an old friend of mine one second…and now this strange man appeared." He answered, clearly dumbfounded. "He could have killed you easily, be glad we got here before that happened.

The man simply stared at us with a disturbingly wide grin before interrupting, "That image you saw. That was the work of my teigu **Spectator**. One of its abilities makes you see an image of something your deeply cherish." "I don't care what your little hat does, I'm taking you down!" Tatsumi shouted as he got up, unsheathing his blade and charging the assailant. "Wait! Don't rush in like that!" Akame yelled at him. Zank effortlessly blocked Tatsumi's initial strike, as well as the following slashes before countering with one of his own, opening a shallow wound across Tatsumi's midsection. "Tatsumi!" I yelled, activating my own teigu. "Akame, I'm jumping in!" I said before, rushing in myself. I heard the unsheathing of Akame's blade as I charged forward.

"Oh so you think that numbers will give you the advantage, eh? What's the use, if I know what you'll do before you do it?!" He shouted. Ignoring his statement, I swung my right fist at him, aiming to burn him, but he blocked perfectly with his blades. I continued by jabbing low with my left, but he backpedaled immediately. "I see now, your teigu has control of fire and electricity, rather peculiar combination. It would be rather unfortunate if I were to be struck with your left than." He guessed correctly, "I'll just have to watch out for that than" He noted. _"How the hell did he know what I was planning?! Is this what his teigu does?"_ I thought as I backed off, stopping next to Akame who had her sword raised in a defensive manner. "Ah, I see you're still confused. Allow me to give you're the short version: My teigu basically allows me to, quite accurately, predict my targets moves solely off their facial expressions and body movement." Zank explained with a cocky smirk plastered across his face. _"So rushing in is quite a good way to get myself killed?"_ I summed up. "Precisely." Zank blurted out, once again reading my mind. At this point, he was starting to annoy me, but if I rushed in now, I'd very well end up cut in two.

Akame had dragged Tatsumi back as Zank was explaining. "The cut isn't too deep" Akame noted, depositing Tatsumi against the side of a bench before coming back to my side. I once again went in for an attack, trying to clear my thoughts. Deciding quickly to employ my earlier tactic I used against Akame, I began trailing my right hand against the ground, lighting a fire around Zank. "Second-hand tactics, eh? How rude of you to think something like this would work a second time!" He said. However, instead of jumping into the circle with him, I jumped away from it, firing an arc of lightening as I travelled backwards. _"If he blocks this, its game-over"_ I thought, before realizing my mistake. "So that's your plan! Confine me and fry me!" He predicted before jumping through the flames. He landed on the other side, avoiding the lightening completely, and quickly ripped off the long overcoat he was wearing as it had lit-ablaze. _"Dammit, how am I supposed to hit this bastard if he knows what I'll do before I do it?!"_ I thought frantically. "Quite simple. You **don't** , you just die!" He answered for me, laughing manically, before charging me. He began quickly swiping at me with his bladed forearms, I blocked what I could, but still ended up with multiple small cuts across my chest before I was able to escape his range. "This is bad..." I muttered, before I saw Akame lung forward. "Akame! Wait, he can read your mind!" I shouted.

The two began trading blow after blow, at one point Zank was able to land a small cut on Akame's leg. Picking myself up, I prepared to jump in, but decided against it realizing that at this point helping was beyond me. Akame was moving incredibly fast, but Zank was able to keep up due to his teigu. After another clash, Zank paused. "Akame, wielder of the one-hit killer and the Capitals former lap dog." he started, "You've had to have killed hundreds over the years. I've got to know, how can you stand the constant wailing of those you've extinguished? How can you block out their cries!" He began rambling. "I don't hear any voices." Akame stated. Zank stood there, momentarily dumbfounded, before replying "How odd…" Then he seemed to exude a strange force directed at Akame, causing her to freeze. Zank rushed her, blades drawn ready to strike. "Akame! Snap out of it!" I yelled as I watched in horror. _"I gotta do something..."_ I thought quickly before raising my right hand and sending a bolt of lightning towards Zank. This caused him to stop mid-charge in order to avoid the strike. He turned his attention towards me and seemed to send the same force my way.

Next thing I know, Zank disappeared and my mother appeared. "What is this?!" I questioned. She began walking towards me, motioning for me to do the same. "How long has it been since you came to visit. Two? No, three years?" She questioned. I began walking towards her, fist clenched tightly. I heard a soft shout of my name in the background, but ignored it. As the distance grew closer, my pace quickened before I thrust my left palm forward sending a bolt of lightning forward once more. My mother, or more correctly the illusion of my mother jumped backwards, before dissipating altogether, once again resembling Zank. "How could you shoot at someone you love so dearly?!" Zank yelled, enraged his trick failed. "That person you showed me perished many years ago." I answered, a rage of my own building within me. I shot a swath of fire next, cutting off his escape route. "Now!" I yelled, signaling Akame, who had recovered from whatever illusion Zank showed her, to attack. As expected, Zank turned and blocked the attack. "You'll have to try a little harder than that!" Zank commented. However, as the strike followed through, his blades shattered in to may pieces, due to the repeated clashes from Akame's attacks. "What!? How could my blades have failed me now!?" He questioned in a panicked manner, before Akame slashed him in the throat, ending the battle.

Straining to speak through the blood, "How did you know...that my blades would fail?" He questioned. "The tactic wasn't my own, but still effective." Akame answered. Reading her mind, he fell backwards, finally dying. "That took longer than expected." I said, as I got up, pain radiating from all the wounds on my body. "What's done is done." Akame shot back. I helped Tatsumi up and we began the trek back to the rendezvous point. "Hey Akame. You won't have to strip us to check for wounds again right? Considering you were here to see us get out butts kicked, right?" I joked, earning a pained laugh from Tatsumi and a warm smile from Akame.

 **[AN: Axel POV]**

When the three of us got back to base, Tatsumi was taken to the infirmary to get the slash across his abdomen sewn up by Sheele, of all people. After dressing my wounds, this time without Akame, I went to my own room and laid down, letting out a groan. Suddenly, Sheele popped her head into my room.

"Axel, tomorrow I'll be taking you and Tatsumi for some training tomorrow, so make sure you get your rest now" she said. "Ok, I'll make sure I'm not late." I replied, turning over in my bed. As I began to doze off, I hear a thud outside my door. Partially getting up, I see Sheele had tripped and fallen outside my door. I just laid back down and dozed off.

 **[Time Skip: Next Day]**

An alarm I set in my room goes off, awaking me from my sleep. I got up and got ready to go train whit Sheele and Tatsumi. Ten minutes later, I walked out into the courtyard where Sheele was waiting. Tatsumi hadn't gotten there yet, but that was to be expected as he was probably still in quite a bit of pain. Eventually, Tatsumi came out the door, with a scolding Mine in tow. "How long does it take to get ready?! They've obviously been waiting on you!" She yelled at him. Both Sheele and I tried to spare Tatsumi the headache and calm the enraged sniper down.

Sheele guided us to a river where there were two heavy suits of armor. "Ok guys, I want you to put these suits on and swim the length of this river. The last one to finish has to swim back with the second suit on their back." Sheele said. Tatsumi and I simply gawked at the statement _. "There's no way in hell I'm swimming back with both sets of armor"_ I thought. While Tatsumi was still standing there in disbelief I rushed to put my armor on and jumped into the water. "Hey no fair!" I heard him yell behind me.

Propelling myself through the water was easy considering the strength in my arms despite the current happened to be flowing against me. I had no idea how long the river was after swimming for a good few minutes, not to mention all the changes in the river's direction, but my arms were starting to ache a bit. Taking a quick glance behind my shoulder I could see Tatsumi powering through behind attempting to catch on. I decided to pick up the pace, hoping that I was close to the end. After a few more tedious minutes of swimming, I finally spotted the end and once again sped up some. A minute later, I made it to the end and pulled myself to the surface where a smiling Sheele was waiting.

"How did you get here before me?!" I questioned. "I just walked. The numerous bends in the river makes it seem really long, but getting from where we started to here, by land, is as simple as walking straight ahead for about ten minutes." She answered with a slight giggle. She handed me a towel and I started to dry myself off after taking off all the armor.

Two minutes or so later, Tatsumi finished and dragged himself to land. Sheele handed him a towel also. "That…that was not a fair race…"Tatsumi said in between breaths. "In a life or death scenario, the enemy won't wait for you to get ready." Sheele pointed out. Tatsumi just grunted as he picked up my armor set. We made our way back to base shortly after.

 **[AN: Axel POV]**

After resting for a bit, the boss called a meeting to decide the fate of Zank's teigu that was recovered. "Okay, so everyone except Tatsumi has a teigu, so naturally, Tatsumi you get to try it out." Najenda stated, handing Tatsumi the teigu. "Axel I want you to check the guide to see if the powers activate" Najenda commanded. "Cool!" Responded Tatsumi as he placed the eye on his forehead. "Try it out, from what you guys told us after the fight with Zank, it should have the ability to read minds." Najenda instructed. "Try and read Akame." I suggested. Tatsumi focused for a moment. "You…want to eat meat tonight" He guessed. "Amazing!" Akame responded, "The teigu didn't activate…" I said with a sigh. Mine suggested he try some of the other five abilities and he began to focus again. A moment later, the eye on his forehead opened and Tatsumi's eyes went wide.

"What happened?" I asked. He didn't respond and simply set there with a gawking expression on his face. Mine decided to step closer and try and snap him out of the daze and he reeled backwards, and started holding his nose, which seemed to start bleeding for some reason. _"Why is he reeling backwards…and why is his nose bleeding?"_ I thought and then I looked into the abilities. _"Let's see here…_." I thought as I began reading through the teigu's abilities. I simply face-palmed as I found the one Tatsumi activated. Of all the abilities, he had to activate that one." I mentally face-palmed when suddenly Tatsumi began to falter. "What's going on?" He asked drunkenly. "The teigu's rejecting! Get it off him!" Lubbock stated, signaling Akame to pull the eye off him.

Afterwards, Najenda sent the teigu off to the Revolutionary Army since no one could use it. I gave Tatsumi the book on known teigu to read also. "So this book contains the information of all teigu's?" Tatsumi asked after recovering, "Not all of them, only the ones that have been encountered by Revolutionary members. And this is only a small portion of them." Najenda explained.

"Well right off the back I found Akame's, Lubbock's, Mine's, Sheele's, and Bulat's, but I didn't find Axel's teigu" Tatsumi stated. "Well, prior to drafting him, Axel's teigu had never been seen before. There's still a lot that we don't know about them. To date, these gauntlets have shown to give the user increased strength and durability, as well as the ability to shoot burst of electricity and swathes of fire" Najenda explained. I looked down at the gloves covering my palms and realized there was still a lot I didn't even know about these gauntlets of mine. "We don't even know where these teigu's came from, nor do we know how Axel is able to wield both of them at the same time.

"Either way, I want everyone to be rested tomorrow because we will be training all day." Najenda ordered, causing everyone to groan in frustration.

 **[AN: Third Person]**

Early the next morning, everyone dragged themselves out of bed and moved to the large training field. "Why are we out so early? It's not even daylight yet!" Tatsumi protested. "Quit your whining. The sooner you prove you're ready, the sooner you can go back to bed." Najenda stated, causing Tatsumi to snap to attention.

"First up is Axel and…" Najenda pondered for a second. "Leone." Najenda finished. _"Crap…"_ Axel thought as he walked forward. "The first to pin their opponent or render them unable to continue wins." Najenda explained. "Sounds fair." Leone said with a dangerous look in her eyes. She then activated her teigu and got into a fighting stance. Axel activated his teigu and prepared himself as best he could. He read all he could find on the groups teigu earlier, and Leone's teigu was one in particular that he didn't want to fight against. It provided a greater boost to strength, durability, and speed along with a regeneration factor. The biggest advantage that he had was the ability to fight from range, but that often drained too much energy. He couldn't trap her using fire because she'd be able to rush straight through it. Lightening could help, but only if it was able to slow her down long enough for him to pin her. Axel's internal struggle was interrupted when Najenda signaled them to begin.

Leone charged straight at Axel forcing him to dodge or risk being pinned right away. He quickly raised his gauntlets in a defensive manner. _"Maybe If I can use her attacks against her and counter her..."_ Axel contemplated as the two of them began pacing in a circle around the arena. "Your move." Leone tempted, "Lady's first." Axel shot back. With that Leone once again charged forward, but Axel made no attempt to dodge opting to instead to grab her when she gets close and use her momentum to run her into the wall behind him. A small crater was formed in the wall where Leone landed. She pulled herself back up and dusted herself off a bit. "Nice trick, but I'd appreciate it if you stopped beating around the bush" Najenda spoke up.

This time Axel charged forward and Leone charged towards him also. The two met in the center, both grappling for position. Leone had the advantage in raw strength, but Axel had a plan. _"That's it, just a bit longer."_ Axel thought, what was obvious to all except Leone was that Axel's left gauntlet had begun emitting a bright yellow hue that got brighter over the time they were grappling. Then he released the stored energy all at once in a large burst, zapping Leone. This caused Leone to take a few steps back which Axel used to force her to the ground and pin her. "That's it." Najenda announced, signaling the end of the sparring match. "Nice one", Bulat praised, "Now how about trying that with me?" He finished with a cheesy grin. "Uh…no." he refused, backing out rather quickly. "Fine. Than you get to be the lucky first to test our new training course." Najenda chimed in. Axel just grumbled something under his breath as the training matches continued.

 **[AN: Third Person]**

After the sparring matches had ended, Najenda, Axel, and Akame ventured out to a forest filled to the brim with ridiculously tall trees that had trunks that were easily as wide as Bulat was tall. They stopped right at the entrance to the forest. "Why are we here exactly?" Axel questioned. "This is the where the training course begins. There are multiple levels in this course that all focus on a different aspect. In total there are 5 levels. The first level that you see before you focuses on agility, you must speed through this stretch of forest until you reach a clearing, all the while dodging the thick trunks of the trees as you speed by." Najenda explained. Pulling out a map, she continued on, "Once you reach the clearing, you will notice a change in the forest floor. This change being that it is covered in a very thick amount foliage that is akin to poison ivy. This is designed to test your strength and in order to circumvent this obstacle, you will jump from trunk to trunk, propelling yourself through the forest till you see a clear gravel path. Upon reaching this path, you will be engaged by a multitude of danger beast constantly. They will almost appear to come out of nowhere, so you will be forced to stay aware of your surroundings at all times, thus why this level exist." Taking a breath, "The final and most taxing level is one you'll be fairly familiar with. Your final task will be to swim the entirety of this winding river, which happens to be the same river that Sheele took you to when she was training you and Tatsumi. Minus the armor of course."

"After completing all these levels, you'll hike back to base. All of this, with Akame riding on your back. Well, excluding the swimming portion of course." Najenda wrapped up. Axel simply stood dumbfounded at the training regimen prepared for him. "You expect me to finish this entire thing in a day?!" Axel claimed. "Of course not, that's why I had Akame bring 3 days' worth of supplies." Najenda explained, motioning to the large pack being worn by Akame. "Anyway, good luck" she said, beginning the trek back to base, leaving just Akame and Axel by themselves.

The awkward atmosphere was thick enough to be cut with a knife after Najenda departed. The two of them stood there for a moment, both waiting for the other to begin. "We should get started…" Akame finally spoke up, walking over to Axel who simply squatted slightly so Akame could pull herself up and onto his back. He wrapped his arms around her legs, "So I just have to run straight till a clearing?" He questioned as he began charging into the forest. "Yes, just run straight till you reach the clearing. And try not to run into these trunks too hard…" Akame ended. As Axel sped up, he found this easier said than done as the trunks seemed to pop up one after the other. He hissed in pain as he clipped his shoulder against the trunk of a tree and had to quickly duck out the way of a low hanging branch. _"Damn…I can't find a balance between speed and agility…If I go too fast, I'll continue banging into these damn trees! If I go too slowly, I'll be here all day!"_ Axel thought frustrated. "Pay attention!" Akame yelled snapping him from his thoughts in time for him to face plant in to the trunk of a tree. He rebounded hard off the tree while Akame jumped off and landed a short distance away. The impact knocked the wind out of him as he lay on his back. Akame walked towards him and looked down on him, "You must always pay attention to what you're doing, if not you could end up getting hurt. Or killed. Now come on, we need to get to the next checkpoint before nightfall." She said as Axel sluggishly got off the ground.

Fifteen minutes later, they finally reached the forest clearing where Akame dismounted and pulled out the map. While Akame checked the path for the next trial, Axel took the opportunity to rest his already tired body. "Ok next you'll be jumping from trunk to trunk until a gravel path appears." Akame said once again donning their large pack of supplies. "Uhh….right…" Axel said as Akame climbed onto his back once more. Activating his teigu to get a strength boost, Axel took a running start at the first trunk before bouncing off it to the next trunk, than the next and so on. He would occasionally swing off of or land on a thick branch that was in his path. "Try not to land so hard and don't put so much into each jump or you'll quickly tire out. Than were both going to fall quite far." Akame coached. After a few relatively silent minutes later, Axel found a rather thick branch and halted there to catch his breath. "Even with the boost, this is still really hard to do… "He groaned in between breaths. "You can't rely on your teigu for everything. A weakling with a teigu is still just that. A weakling." Akame said as she shuffled around in the pack, eventually pulling a bottle of water handing it to Axel. Besides were almost there now, no point in halting so short of the next checkpoint." She reasoned further.

 **[AN: Axel POV]**

"I suppose she has a point, no point slowing down now." I thought picking myself, and Akame, back up. I began bounding faster and faster, rebounding myself off the various trunks as quickly as possible to reach the next checkpoint. "The clearing should be right up ahead" Akame instructed, but suddenly I spotted something odd in the distance. It looked like a long thread of sorts, but oddly reflective. _"Is that spider's silk?!"_ I thought frantically, halting any further progression by hanging on to the side of a tree. "Uh what's with that huge spider web?!" I asked Akame. "I'm not sure, but whatever made it, probably isn't something easy to take down. We should search for a way around it." She suggested as she began looking into some book she'd pulled out. "If it's just silk, why don't I simply burn it down?" I chimed in, freeing my right arm from around her leg and arming its respective red gauntlet. "That won't work. According to this survival guide, the most likely creator of this web is a Giant Gandora Weaver. They're known for having very resilient silk. Meaning its fire-proof." She informed me, to my own dismay. "It's getting really dark, even if we did get out of here before nightfall, fighting hordes of danger beast in the dark isn't something I'd recommend." I said. "Which means we're going to have to find shelter…in a forest where the ground is covered in poisonous plant life." I summarized. "It would be in our best interest to prioritize finding shelter then." Akame decided, "Try to find any particularly large or wide branches. I packed rope, so we could simply tie ourselves to the branch".

With those instructions, I leapt away from the giant mess of silk, and farther into the adjacent woods branching off from our preset course **[AN: Get it, branching off? No? Not funny…ok]**. After a minute or two of surveying out options, I came across a suitable candidate and landed squarely upon it. "This should do nicely. As Akame began unpacking, I felt something wet fall onto my nose and held my hand out. "Shit! It's raining!" I stated the obvious. Akame didn't really seem to mind for one reason or another, but I didn't want to catch a cold out in the middle of the woods. Looking around, I noticed nothing of particular value that could be used to form a roofing, when an idea popped into my head. _"This is a pretty damn thick tree, maybe I could claw a hole in it…"_ With the gears turning in my head, I manifested both of my gauntlets, though one was much more suited for the job, and began beating away at the trunk. "What are you doing exactly?" Akame asked me with a questionable look. "If I can make a large enough hole, without felling the tree, we'll have a covered space to rest for the night." I answered her as I began to make progress in the tree. I noted how much tougher the wood was than expected, but I persisted onward anyway. A few minutes passed, both Akame and I already noticeably drenched before I finally clawed out a crevice big enough for the two of us. Pulling the pack in behind us, Akame maneuvered to my right inside the dry space.

"See, I knew my plan would work" I boasted. "Yes, after the both of us were completely soaked. Luckily the pack is moderately water-proof." Akame added, effectively bursting my bubble. "Yea….Sorry about that..." I apologized for the wait. "Don't worry, all that matters is that we have shelter." She said. I noticed that despite it being the middle of summer, the now night air had taken a chill to it, quickly snatching away the heat from our wet bodies. "It got cold rather quick…" I said, taking my right hand, palm facing upward, and manifested a small flame in between the both of us. Akame scooted herself closer to the flame, almost leaning against my arm that was controlling it. Thanks to the properties of my teigu, I actually dried off rather quickly, but that only pertained to myself. "Akame, you're shivering, you might want to get out of those clothes before you catch a cold", I said, before I could catch the rather bold statement from exiting my head. I tried to retract the statement, but Akame had already begun to loosen her tie, "You make a rather good point actually." She commented as she began taking off her dress shirt. I think I came close to breaking my neck turning away. "You didn't have to do that you know…" I commented with a blush on his face. "I didn't want to catch a cold, besides you brought it up." She said. She then proceeded to scoot over close enough to grab on to his arm and bring him closer. "What are you doing?!" I questioned, flustered. "I have to get warm as fast as possible and… you're basically a living torch thanks to your teigu." She justified her actions with a slight blush on her face. "I can't keep this flame going all night…" I said concerned. "That's fine… you're warm enough…" she said as she leaned into my arm further.

 **[AN: Third Person]**

Back at base, Najenda had arrived a number of hours ago. Walking into the living room, she slumped down onto the large couch. Normally meant to seat three or four, Najenda simply laid her tired muscles across its length. "I wonder how those two are doing." she mused to herself. "Wonder how who's doing?" came another voice which happened to belong to Lubbock as he walked into the room. "Oh, just Axel and Akame. The two are doing a training course. Well more like Axel is carrying Akame while she holds a map." Najenda answered with a chuckle near the end. "Axel…and Akame… out in the middle of nowhere by themselves…" Lubbock said, trembling slightly, his feeble mind getting the wrong idea.

"Try not to think about it too hard…" Najenda said trying to calm him down. "Hopefully they return soon, I'm in the midst of cooking up our next mission and they'll both play quite a large role in it." Najenda announced snapping Lubbock to attention. "Any details you can spare?" Lubbock pried. "In due time." She responded.

 **[AN: Axel POV]**

I'm not sure how I was able to fall asleep, but I was awoken to a strange shuffling sound, as if something was rustling through the canopy above us. Akame was still asleep, still holding onto my arm. The sound alerted me again, this time somewhat louder. _"Whatever is out there, it's got to be pretty big."_ I summed up. I decided I'd go check it out, so I rummaged in the pack till I found a blanket. I gently wrapped Akame in the blanket, freeing my arm in the process. _"I didn't imagine Akame to be this heavy of a sleeper…"_ I thought as I sneaked out of our small hole.

It was still close to pitch black outside, so I manifested a small light for myself. Having gained a good deal more control over my powers over the months, I was now able to control the brightness of the flame without changing its size. I illuminated a large space around me, and didn't spot the cause of the sound. Looking around, I did spot an odd stalk, protruding from the canopy layer, however it quickly retracted as I began to focus on it. _"Whelp…I guess I should go see what that is…"_ I thought, a sense of dread filling me. I began climbing up the trunk of the tree towards the canopy layer far above. It was a moment before I was able to poke my head above the thick leaves, but what I saw was not a pleasant one.

Lying before me perched upon a large branch that rose even higher than the canopy level, was an unfathomably large spider. The spider was an overall dark olive green with two squiggly marks of a lime green hue racing from its multi-eyed head to the tip of its bulbous abdomen. It had eight spindly legs, all ending in a sharp black tip. Perhaps its most striking factor was its ginormous mouth. If you could even call it a mouth! Each fang was longer than the length of my arm and twice as thick!

Upon poking my head through the leaves, it focused all eight of its orbs at me. Its intense focus combined with its horrifying appearance was nothing to scoff at. _"Shiiit!"_ would best explain my thoughts concerning this beast. I quickly scurried back down the tree and began running away from the horror. I turned back to see the spider chasing after me, emulating my movements, bouncing from tree to tree. _"Shit… that thing will keep chasing me, I'll have to turn and fight!"_ I thought. I turned and landed on a branch and fully activated my gauntlets, forming its hardened armor along my arms and shoulders. Something was off though, the armor was longer than usual, slightly covering the sides of my chest. I thought little of it however, the huge spider landed about 50 meters in front of me on the side of a tree.

When the spider landed, it fully opened its mouth revealing a pair of huge fangs dripping with a strange liquid that was teal in hue. I assumed that was poison. "OK no reason to show off!" I yelled as I leapt towards the monster, my right arm engulfed in flames. The spider leaped towards me as well, forcing me to twist midair to avoid getting swallowed. I spun around and grabbed onto its abdomen as I flew by. The spider had a strange mucus coating on its body. "Eww, what the hell is this?" I groaned. Getting over the scum, I slammed my lit arm into the spiders back. I didn't go straight through as I was hoping, but I was able to leave a cracked indent in it. "Hard shell huh… that's weird for a spider." I thought ad I began hammering away at the spot. The beast flailed around wildly trying g to shake me off. I finally hit it hard enough to break through its shell, causing fluids to fly out of the hole. The liquid that hit me burned like acid. "Oww! What the hell!" I yelled jumping off the creature and quickly brushing the remaining liquid of me. It left holes in my clothes and faint burn marks on my body. "OK, beating it to death isn't an option…" I pointed out the obvious.

"OK fine…, Burn you ugly son of a bitch!" I cursed at the beast as I poured out a huge fireball at it. The damn thing didn't move and simply let my fire wash over it. I bathed it in flames for a few moments longer before I started feeling a bit winded. _"Darn, my energy reserves are still quite shallow"_ I thought. While catching my breath, I noticed that the monster hadn't even flinched nor had it been burned. "Crap…" I turned to run away again when I felt a stick substance smack into my leg. I looked down to see a mass of webs wrapped around my legs. I traced the webs back to the monster, who had shot it from the tip of one of its legs. _"I don't think that's how spider's work, but okay"_ I thought. The monster than started to pull in its thread. I dug my gauntlets as far into the wood as I could, but this only encouraged the beast to shoot the thread onto my arms and pull harder. When I felt my arms were about to be ripped out their sockets, I heard a loud rustling sound coming from above. I looked up to see a dark mass zooming towards me. I ducked instinctively, and then saw a quick flash of silver and I was my arms and legs were freed.

The mass landed next to me and I recognized my savior by her long black hair and crimson eyes. "Akame?!" I shouted, baffled, but glad that she suddenly appeared. She had dressed in her clothes again and despite her having a mostly emotionless expression, I could read a bit of anger and concern in her eyes. "Why did you leave without waking me? And why were you about to get eaten by a giant spider!? Akame said as she began unloading her frustration onto me. "I…uh...I heard a noise from outside…." I tried to justify my decision, "And I was not about to get eaten!" "You should have woke me up." She chastised again. "Anyway, I read further into that spider while I was searching for you, the spider exoskeleton is naturally resistant to high heat and on top of that, pores on its body secrete this strange liquid that extinguishes flames quickly as well. I'm assuming the spider's webs are soaked in this liquid as well." She explained.

"If we want to cause any real damage, we have to get through its shell." Akame summed up. Remembering prior events, "I've already figured all that out actually. Prior to it trying to eat me, I punched a hole in its shell" I added. "Well that's a start, if you can get there and shock it, that should put it down" She suggested. "And blow it up in the progress, spraying its acid-for-blood and guts everywhere. Trust me, getting that crap on you is not fun." I shot back. "Well than, you'll have to get me in close, so I can stab it with Murasame." Akame stated. "Sounds simple enough" Axel said, allowing Akame to once again climb onto his back.

 **[AN: Third Person POV]**

Axel jumped from trunk to trunk looking for the perfect opportunity. Suddenly, the spider opened it mouth wide and pointed its fangs at the two of them. Before their eyes, the creature shot a stream of teal liquid at them, which Axel immediately dodged. The poison splashed against the tree, visibly eating away at the tree, leaving a large hole where the poison landed. "See. That shit right there, is not fun to mess around with." Axel yelled as he continued to bounce around, the spider continually squirting its poison. After a few moments of roundabout, Axel pushed off hard against a trunk, charging towards the monster. The monster squirted its poison at him, giving Axel no room to dodge. _"Well shit"_ Axel thought. Raising his gauntlets to his chest, he was able to deflect a lot of the poison away from himself and Akame, however some splashed onto the two of them. Resisting the urge to cry out from the pain, Axel continued to fly towards the monster until he landed on its back. Still keeping Akame on him, he raced as quickly as he could to the gap in the monster's armor he had maid previously. Reaching it, he grabbed inside and began pulling at the edges of the whole. This had the effect of causing the creature to once again thrash about, however, Axel kept his balance. With a bit of a yell, he ripped open the monster's shell once more, making the hole quite a bit larger, exposing the monster's vulnerable insides. Looking back at Akame, who simply nodded, he crouched slightly, allowing Akame to jump off his backside. Upon landing she thrust Murasame into the monster's flesh.

The monster let out an ear-piercing wail, forcing the two of them to cover their ears, before finally collapsing dead. "Well, I'm glad that's over." Axel stated, feeling rather tired. "Don't run off like that again." Akame stated coldly. "I won't let my curiosity get the better of me again…" he answered back sheepishly as they began the trek back to their hovel.

 **[AN: Axel POV]**

Back in our temporary shelter, Akame was treating the both of us for acid burns and was applying medication to alleviate the pain. The majority of the poison landed on the portion of my chest that wasn't covered in armor, but some did land on my neck and face. "Luckily the poison wasn't corrosive enough to burn through the skin and this medicine should help heal the damaged skin." Akame stated. I simply nodded and let her continue her work. She was very focused on the task at hand and didn't notice my glance rested solely on her and her own burns, although fewer than mine, they were still causing visible discomfort.

"Are you going to take care of your own burns at some point?" I questioned, causing her to look up from her work. "I'll focus on myself later, right now I just want to make sure you're alright." She answered. Unsatisfied with her answer, I grabbed her arm applying the medicine and removed the container from her hand. She simply stared in question of my actions. "While I'm flattered that you care, I won't allow you to overlook yourself." I stated firmly. I grabbed the arm closest to me and placed it across my lap and began to apply some of the medicine to areas she had sustained burns at. I could see the protest forming on the tip of her tongue, but in the end she let me do what I wanted. After we had applied the medicine, Akame had decided to pull out some food for the both of us.

"Here hold your palm out and activate your teigu." She instructed, pulling my arm towards her. I did as I was told, but didn't really see where this was going. Then she laid an obnoxiously large piece of meat on my arm. "Really." I asked with a sigh. "If you wanted me to start a fire you could have just asked." I stated with a chuckle.

The rest of the night passed rather uneventfully, and the next day arrived sooner rather than later. Packing all of our supplies back into the pack, Akame directed me towards the gravel path and we reached it within the hour. Akame climbed off of me and was now walking beside me. I offered to carry the bag for this portion of the trip.

"The both of us need to be extra careful from the point until we clear the forest. A danger beast could attack at any moment and the forest surrounding us gives way to many places to hide." Akame warned me, unsheathing Murasame in the process. Heeding her warnings, I activated my own teigu.

 **[AN: Third Person POV]**

Twenty or so minutes into the hike, Akame stopped Axel's progress and pointed towards a bush to their left. She also prompted him to remain completely silent. The two approached cautiously, not wanting to set off whatever was hidden in the bush. Suddenly, a small animal the size of a small dog jumped out from the bush. The creature seemed to be a baby bird of sorts. It was small in stature and was covered in dark gray feathers. It had large talons on its legs and a long sharp beak. The feathers themselves almost seemed to end in a point. The animal had intense red eyes. "Well what do we have here? A baby bird that fell from its nest?" Axel questioned, stepping a bit closer. "NO DON'T GET ANY CLOSER!" Akame yelled immediately, pulling Axel back, narrowly avoiding a large bird's talons that would have lopped his head off. "Never approach a baby danger beast if you don't know the location of its parents." Akame stated. The larger bird emulated the look of the baby, however the talons and beak were much more defined and much sharper. Its feathers were also much sharper on the leading edge of its wings and the tips ended in a dark red color. "What in the hell, is that!" Axel questioned pointing at the large bird. Akame shuffled through the guide quickly looking for the name of the creature. "It's known as a Blade-Tipped Sparrow. It is a species of danger beast known for its speed and strength and exceedingly aggressive manner. It gets its name from its extremely sharp feathers on its wings." Akame recited. "What should we do?" Axel questioned. "We can't out run it, it will simply follow us and continue to pester us. So we'll have to end it." Akame stated solemnly.

Axel looked up at the bird circling above them and aimed his left arm at it. Taking careful aim, he fired of a bolt of lightning at it, striking the bird and electrocuting it. The bird perished before it crashed down. The chick from before flew a short distance over to its now deceased mother and poked at it lightly with its beak. _"And now I feel bad."_ Axel thought. "What do we do with the little one?" Axel questioned. "We should leave it, it will likely get eaten by something or the other." Akame answered grimly. "I don't know, I feel bad for killing its parent…" Axel stated. He crouched down to the bird, which hopped back a short distance, and observed the bird. Not finding any real intent to kill, he carefully extended his hand towards the baby. However, the bird did not take to a liking to this, and backed away, before flying off into the forest once more. "Hm…We should get moving." Axel stated, upset he couldn't get through to the creature. Akame nodded and the two continued their hike.

Several hours flew by with the two fighting off many beast along the way. Nightfall was approaching and the two were once again looking for some sort of shelter. "I suppose we should set up camp and take shifts while the other one rests." Akame suggested. "Fair enough, I'll take the first shift." Axel responded, to which Akame nodded and began unpacking. Axel started a small fire in their small campsite and sat down against a nearby tree. Akame pulled out more meat and began cooking it over the fire.

 **[AN: Axel POV]**

"How can you be sure that won't attract monsters?" I questioned. "I'm not. But I will show no mercy to anything that tries to my food." Akame answered bluntly. "Right…" I sighed. Moments later, I spotted a small figure approaching our campsite. Activating my teigu, I waited for it to get into range, when it did I noticed it was the baby chick from before. "Was it attracted to the meat we're cooking?" I questioned. "Most likely, I read that its species were carnivores." Akame answered, keeping an eye on the small bird. The bird continued to approach the campsite till it was only five feet from me. It was staring mainly at me, but took glances at the meat every so often. "I think it's clear what the little guy wants." I stated, ripping a chunk of meat off my share and handing it to the bird, who did not hesitate and ripped into the food offered to it. The bird finished its share rather quickly and looked back up at me, seemingly expecting more. Sighing, I handed him another piece, and just like before, he all but swallowed it whole. After finishing the second piece, the bird hopped towards me and then proceeded to sit down next to me. It looked around our little campsite for a few moments before settling its gaze on the fire in front of it, as if it was deep in thought. "It would appear, that it has taken a liking to me." I declared with a smile. Akame simply smiled back at me and continued on with her previous actions.

 **[AN: Timeskip – about an hour or two]**

Some time had passed and Akame had settled down with the blanket and went to sleep, leaving me to keep watch. The bird, which I had named Midas, had relocated and sat down near Akame, also taking the time to rest. Í had manifested my left gauntlet and had my palm facing the sky. I was attempting to manifest lightning in a controlled state in my palm. The main reason I rarely used my lightning was because I actually had very little control over it. I was merely able to direct where it went, but its form, resulting in a miss and wasted energy. I focused hard on the spot above my palm and a small, faint sphere of yellow energy formed above my palm. Although I was straining to keep it together, a smile was plastered on my face from my achievement. As I was relishing in my success, I heard a loud rustling in the bush behind me, causing me to turn sharply and lose my focus. This had the repercussions of letting lose the energy in my hand, which fired off with a deafening bang upwards. The surprise caused me to fall backwards and more than simply awoke the others. Akame snapped awake and unsheathed Murasame in a flash and Midas jolted up and took off screeching. "What the hell was that?!" Akame questioned. "Sorry, I was testing something when I heard a noise and lost my focus." I admitted, dusting myself off and attempted to calm Midas. "What caused the rustling?" She pressed further. "That's what I'm about to find out I suppose." I stated after Midas calmed down. The three of us sneaked towards the bush in question and I parted a portion of it away, revealing a small jackrabbit that scurried away when it was uncovered. "Ugh. I thought it would be something larger…" I said with a sigh of disappointment.

"What were you attempting that so violently awoke me?" Akame questioned. "I was testing the upper limits of my control over my lightning. I don't feel I have as much skill in handling it as I do with my right." I answered. She nodded as I explained my reasoning. As we were settling back down, a large creature burst through the tree line in front of us and began charging at us. "Shit, we can't get a break can we?!" I cursed as I activated my teigu and leaped out the way, Midas taking off to follow me. Akame also dodged out the way while grabbing her sword. The creature before us seemed to be a large bear-like creature with large tusks. It charged in my direction with its head down, aiming to skewer me on its tusks. I stood my ground and readied myself for the impact. Suddenly, Midas flew out from behind me towards the beast. "What do you think you're doing?!" I called after it. It screeched at the beast and flew around it, pecking and scratching at its talons and wings. While not particularly damaging to the beast, it distracted the beast, causing it to snap at the small bird, but Midas kept out of range. While snapping at the beast, it continued its charge.

As it approached, I stepped forward when it got close, grabbing it by the neck, I used its momentum and lifted it up above me. "You're one heavy bastard, now aren't you?" I stated before slamming it down into the earth behind me. The monster roared out and struggled to free itself from my grasp. Before it could do so, Akame came and lightly slashed it across the stomach, ending its thrashing. Midas landed on top of the now deceased beast and started pecking and pulling at it. "With that said and done, I do believe it's my turn to keep watch. Nodding in agreement, I stretched slightly and leaned back against a tree and closed my eyes.

 **[AN: Third Person]**

Hours later, daybreak was upon the two assassins and the sparrow. Axel came back to consciousness and immediately noticed something rather disturbing. Before him laid the skeleton of the beast they had combated earlier in the night. Cooking what Axel assumed to be its remains, he saw Akame tending to the fire. He saw Midas had perched itself on her lap and was waiting patiently for breakfast to be ready. "How the hell did you eat that in a few hours?!" Axel questioned, dumbfounded. Akame simply shrugged. Sweat-dropping, Axel accepted the meal Akame later handed him. She also gave Midas a share as well. The trio eat and continued on their way through the forest.

They had been walking for an hour or two, Axel once again trying to hone his electric powers, Akame reading the guide, sharing her the articles of danger beast she found interesting or looked tasty. Midas had decided to sit on top of the backpack Axel was carrying and was currently preening itself. The trio eventually approached the bank of the river Najenda informed them of, signaling the end to their current course. "I guess this is where our paths divide." Akame stated. "Only momentarily." Axel assured her. Relieving himself of the pack, and Midas, he prepared to jump in. "Alright, you are to swim to the east **against** the current until you see an opening in the tree line. You'll see Midas and me waiting for you there." Akame instructed, reading off from the map. Nodding in acknowledgement, Axel leaped into the river and took off. Staring at him go by for a few moments, Akame started the short walk towards the clearing.

Axel was once again powered through the river towards the endpoint, however this time he didn't activate his teigu and decided to rely on his inherent strength. It was considerably harder than before, but Axel kept at it. Shortly into the exercise, Axel felt something bump against his leg. _"Please no…."_ Axel thought, annoyed. To his dismay a large fish sprang out the water and splashed down behind him and began chasing him. "And here I thought I was going to have a peaceful swim…" Axel complained as he pumped his arms. The monster chased him through the river following through the bends of the river, unrelenting. Then suddenly, a fish that was double the size of the firs burst from the surface, ate the smaller one, and began chasing after Axel. "What the hell?!" Axel yelled as he swam harder. As if nature had it out for him, not even 3 minutes after the second fish started chasing him, a large crocodile appeared and ate the fish. Than it went after Axel.

The crocodile was considerably faster than the fish however. Axel could feel the nose of the croc bump against his foot. "Screw it, I'm calling it!" Axel yelled, activating his teigu and immediately racing ahead of the croc. He didn't stop until he saw the clearing and by then, he'd lost the crocodile. Quickly climbing out the water, he was sucking in large breathes trying to recover. "Hm, you finished that much faster than expected." Akame noted. "Well, when you have a huge crocodile chasing after you, it's not that hard." Axel shot back. Akame giggled and trio began the final trek out of the forest. "I'm so glad I won't have to do this again…" Axel said as the two were walking. "Actually, I do believe Najenda might make this a regular exercise." Akame stated, shooting down Axel's hopes.

Axel and Akame walked on, eventually leaving the forest and crossing into the desert. Midas was flying above them. "We're on the final stretch to the base now." Akame said. "That's good. I hope you don't think less of me for having to be dragged along on this little excursion." Axel apologized. "Nonsense. I actually found it rather fun." Akame stated. "Well that's good." Axel replied.

Three hours later, the trio arrived back at base. "We're back!" Axel shouted as he and the rest walked through the door. The first to greet them was Sheele. "Welcome back. How was the exercise?" she questioned. "Very long and tiring…" Axel noted, face-planting onto the couch. The next to walk in was Tatsumi and Mine, arguing as usual. "Oh good, you two have finely returned. We can start this operation now." Mine said. "Operation? What are we doing?" Axel asked.

 **[AN: Axel POV]**

Just then, Najenda walked in from the other room. "I'm glad you asked, because you're playing a large part in it. We are to begin a rather large multi-phase mission that will, hopefully, end with us killing a high-threat enemy." Najenda informed me. "Alright than, what is this 'huge' part of mine?" I questioned. "Our ultimate target for this mission is Seryu Ubiquitous. Thanks to the fact that you've yet to make a name for yourself in the capital, I am sending you to infiltrate the capital and gain her trust by any means necessary. We have spies on the inside that know her patrol routes and have been feeding us information." Najenda instructed, "The rest of us will infiltrating elsewhere, although Leone and Tatsumi will be close by." "After sufficiently gaining her trust, we'll give the order for you to backstab her." Najenda ended. "All this for an officer?" I questioned. "Said officer, is exceedingly dangerous and unstable. She may seem nice and innocent on the outside, but don't let that fool you. She is cruel and her sense of justice differs vastly from ours." Akame chimed in. I simply nodded after being told all this. "Mission start is in eighteen hours, so prepare yourself accordingly." Najenda ended.

* * *

 **Thanks for reading. No promises on when the next chapter will come out simply because every time I set a date, I don't keep it. So yea sorry about that.**


	4. Chapter 4

**[AN: Axel POV]**

Najenda had gathered Tatsumi and me in a small house a short distance away from a capital checkpoint. She instructed us to wear more casual clothing to better fit in. This equated to me a simple a shirt and hooded jacket. I kept my cargo pants.

"Alright listen up Axel. Your mission is to infiltrate the capital and gain Seryu's trust. Than when she is vulnerable, strike her down and escape the capital." Najenda stated as she went over the final plans for the mission. "Try not to attract too much attention to yourself and don't utilize you're teigu too much if you can help it also." She added. "Understood." I said, absorbing the instructions given to me. "We have provided you with a living place for the duration of your mission, Tatsumi knows where it is and will also be operating out of there as well." Najenda stated. "If you need some backup, I'll be in the area." Tatsumi offered. "Tatsumi, other than keeping an eye on Axel, your mission is to gather and shuttle intel in and out of the capital. You will provide overwatch when requested and if necessary be a distraction." Najenda said. "Alright, sounds easy enough." Tatsumi replied.

"Hey, small question. What will happen to Midas?" I asked. "Who? Oh you mean that sparrow you brought back? Well, I don't mind him being around the base, perhaps I'll train him to be of some use. I'll take good care of him." Najenda answered, "Now go, your mission begins now." With that, we split off.

I followed Tatsumi down a dirt road till we came across the checkpoint to pass into the capital. We had to pass through a screening, Tatsumi got picked out for having his short-sword, but after pointing out rampant crime within the capital, he was allowed to keep it. I got through without incident. After getting through the checkpoint, Tatsumi led me to a small dwelling located in the slums, supposedly close to an area Seryu passed through on her patrols. It wasn't the most maintained of locations, but it would do.

"I'll go get the ball rolling." I said, leaving the small apartment, Tatsumi nodding as I left. Keeping my eyes open, I walked around for a bit, before strolling through Seryu's patrol route. I leaned myself against a wall near an alleyway, _"According to Najenda, Seryu should be passing through any moment now."_ I thought to myself. Minutes passed before I heard shouting coming from the alleyway. Looking I saw a group of four crowding around a small girl. It seemed that the men were going to have their way with her. _"Najenda specifically said not to draw attention to myself. This would be a good way to do the opposite."_ I rationed, turning away from the crime. The women screamed some more and this time I heard a rather loud slap, silencing her. My own set of morals were screaming for me to do something, but my logic was preventing me from acting. By now I could hear but soft whimpering and the sound of ripping clothing, adding to the dire situation and my own internal struggle. If I was going to do anything, I'd have to do it now.

" _Fuck it."_ I decided, slipping into the alleyway. Walking up closer to the men, I could more clearly here their conversation. "Maybe next time you'll pay up." One of them, presumably their leader, said with a snicker, "Yea, nothing's free in this world." Another chimed in. The other two simple chuckled. Creeping up till I was directly behind them, I cleared my throat rather loudly gaining their attention. "Excuse me, gentlemen." I started, "Would you kindly let the young woman go." Turning around almost immediately, the men simply started laughing, "Who are you? Some punk I'd assume, go mind your own business." The leader spat before returning to his _business_."Unless you want a beating." One of them spouted. _"So much for keeping quiet…"_ I thought with a sigh. I reached out and grabbed the leader's shoulder. Pulling him down with quite a bit of force, I kneed him in the back of the head, knocking him out instantly. The other three backed off in shock, pulling out various knives and bats. "Alright kid, you've got our attention. Now then, how would you like to spend your last few moments before we rip you apart?" The largest of them yelled before charging at me. I simply stood there, allowing him to close the distance and dodged the swing of his bat before punching him hard in the gut multiple times. Then while he was hunched over, I grabbed him around the neck and twisted my body, aiming to spin him over my back and slam him into the dirt. However I put too much force into it and inadvertently snapped his neck, killing him. _"Whoops, my bad."_ I thought. The last two didn't take too lightly to the death of their friend and charged me. They aimed to stab me with knives stretched in front of them. Before they got too close, I backpedaled slightly, grabbed their wrist and used their momentum to driver their blades into one another, effectively disabling the two.

With the four men dispatched, I turned to the small girl huddled against the wall. Getting a closer look at her, she had curly light blue hair down to her shoulders, pale grey eyes, and a slender form. She was undoubtedly younger than me and was dressed in, what was left of, a light blue blouse and skirt. She was clutching her exposed chest as well as a light purple scarf she had wrapped around her neck. She looked up at me, still in shock from the whole ordeal. I reached out to pull her up, but felt a strange force push against me before shoving me back with more than just a bit of force. The invisible force shoved me against the opposing wall of the alleyway and held me there, knocking the breath out of me. "I'm so sorry, it acts on it own sometimes!" Came a soft voice, who I assumed was the girl. The force lessened almost immediately and I slid down the wall to a sitting position as I gathered myself before standing once more. "Um…I don't know what just happened or what "it" is you're referring to, but don't worry about it." I stated, choosing to ignore the occurrence for now, but then I looked up and saw something strange. Her eyes along with the scarf she was still holding onto so dearly, were glowing a bright purple color. This phenomenon faded shortly after. She noticed my staring, assuming I was staring at her chest, and covered herself once again. Catching myself, I straightened out and took off my jacket before offering it her, which she shyly accepted. Wrapping herself in the garment and pulling the hood over her head, she stood up. "Thank you for saving me. I'm sorry I have nothing of value to repay your actions." She said, burying her face in her scarf. "Think nothing of it, however if it's alright, I'd like to ask how this ordeal started." I pried.

This caused her to withdraw into her scarf more, before speaking up. "The one you knocked out was named Oliver and was my landlord and the other three were his friends. The landlord had been harassing me for quite some time and threatened to kick me out if I didn't pay double my usual rent. When I finally stood up to him, he dragged me out of my home and into this alleyway where you found me." She explained, tears forming in her eyes. _"And now I feel bad."_ I thought, my mind quickly trying to do damage control. "Well, they shouldn't bother you anymore. You can return to your home." I said, trying to lighten her mood. As much as you could lighten the mood of someone who was almost raped. "I can't. There are more of his thugs there and they saw him drag me off. If they see me come back, they'll know something's up." She admitted sadly, openly shedding tears at this fact. _"Shit, I made it worse. That's great."_ I panicked further. "So you have nowhere else to go?" I questioned, to which she nodded and continued sobbing silently. I contemplated the predicament for a moment before answering again, "I know we just met, but you can come and stay with me and a colleague of mine." She instantly looked up once more, her large grey eyes focused on mine, as if searching for any sense of dishonesty or malice. "Is there anything in your home that you want to grab before we go?" I asked, she shook her head however. "As long as I have this scarf, nothing else matters." She said, staring down at the piece of cloth. _"I don't know what significance that scarf has to her, but it is definitely some kind of teigu."_ I thought. "Well if you'll come with me, we need to get out of here. Three dead bodies and a beat up punk won't look good no matter which way you slice it." I stated, pulling her to her feet. She was about Akame's height, if not a bit shorter. I clutched her small hand in mine and walked her out of the alleyway. As we neared the exit, I head a sharp whistle drawing my attention upward. Tatsumi was perched atop the rooftops, he diverted me attention to further left down the road. There was a big commotion heading our way. It seemed that a couple of thugs were running away from a large beast that looked vaguely like a dog. "What the hell is that?" I questioned. Just then, it leapt forward and bit one of the runaways in two. The crowd screamed at the bloodshed as the dog finished the crook and took off once more. Trailing shortly behind it was a short women with auburn hair tied in a pony hair by a black hair tie. She wore standard imperial armor and had somewhat of a determined yet wild look on her face as she ran. _"So that's my target, eh?"_ I thought, studying the girl's features as she approached the other two thieves, who had been pinned under the large animal. "So boys, what do you have to say for yourself?" Seryu questioned, a malicious grin forming on her face. "It was all his idea!" One of them snitched, pointing at the other, who looked beyond betrayed. Seryu looked over at the partner in crime and snickered. "Very well then." She said, pulling out a small staff with a handle and putting it against the assailant's forehead. "Since you're being honest, I'll do you a favor." A short bang followed and blood splattered forward onto the road. The crowd screamed yet again.

She now diverted her attention toward the brains behind the crime, "So. I hear this was all your idea." She said. The remaining criminal simply began crying under the beast's paws. "Koro! You know what to do." She commanded and the large beast momentarily raised its' paw, before quickly swiping down and grabbing the man by the torso and pulling him upward. He launched the man up into the air a short distance before he fell down into the beast's mouth, being devoured. The beast also consumed the one shot in the head before reverting to a smaller form with stubby arms and floppy ears. It jumped into the girl's waiting arms and she welcomed it with affection, as if it had just performed some trick. "Good boy!" She praised as she walked back the way she came, leaving the surrounding crowd in a sense of shock and horror.

As she came our way, I pulled the girl behind me. When she passed she looked over in my direction, momentarily staring at me and the girl I had clutched behind me. She walked off, though. Pulling the girl forward, we crossed the road and disappeared into the crowd on the opposing side.

After a short walk, we arrived at the apartment loaned to Tatsumi and myself. Quickly checking to make sure we weren't followed, I opened the door and showed the girl inside. Leading the girl to one of two rooms, I sat her down on the bed. "You'll stay in here, if you need anything, don't hesitate to ask." I stated. "Wait. I noticed there were only to rooms. If your friend is occupying the other one, where will you sleep?" She asked innocently. "Well, I'll just take up somewhere on the floor, it's not a big deal." I answered. "But." She started, "No, really, it's quite alright. Just try to rest, I'm sure you're still shook up from earlier." I reassured her, to which she nodded slowly and laid down on the bed. I shut the door behind me and walked into Tatsumi's room, where he was clearly awaiting an explanation. "So…you want to explain yourself?" He prodded. "It's quite simple, I heard a girl being raped, I saved said girl, she had nowhere else to go, and I provided a solution. Simple. Except it's not because there's one other thing, that you might find interesting. She seems to possess a teigu of sorts." I explained, the last part peaking Tatsumi's interest. "Really now? Well it's official, everyone BUT ME has a teigu!" He exclaimed in a frustrated manner. "Calm down will you. When I first approached her after dealing with the thugs some kind of energy pushed me back with quite a lot of force. I believe the scarf she has is the source of her power." I explained. "Well I guess I have something of interest to report." Tatsumi stated. "It would seem that way." I agreed with him.

After making sure the girl was indeed asleep, I planned to depart our small abode once more. "Tatsumi, I want you to stay here and watch the girl. I'm going to see if I can track down Seryu. Tatsumi once again nodded as I left.

 **[AN: Third Person POV]**

Walking a short distance out and away from the slums his home was located in, Axel began searching for the auburn-haired guardswoman. He walked across the street for a short while, not being able to find her when he felt someone tapping his shoulder. Low and behold, his target had presented herself. She had been searching for him apparently and this worried Axel. Who's to say she hadn't tailed him back to base and he didn't notice? Putting on as innocent a face as he could he spoke, "Can I help you?" She looked up at his face, judging it for a short second. "I just want to ask a few questions. I saw you standing with a young woman in front of an alleyway on my patrol earlier today. I didn't think much of it, but my darling Koro got a whiff of something peculiar in that alleyway." She stated, the small dog jumping on top of her head at the mention of his name, "Upon investigation, I found three dead bodies. Care to explain yourself?" _"So that fat bastard got away huh?"_ Axel thought. "Well you see, that young woman you saw was about to be raped. As you should know by now, this is a cruel place and words were not going to be enough to defuse the situation." he tried explaining himself. "In my defense, the first guy was an accident" he added when she seemed dissatisfied. She stared at me for a bit before her mood seemed to lighten. "Good job citizen, I'm glad you've been helping to rid the streets of evil!" She praised enthusiastically. In that moment it was hard for him to associate the girl with the gruesome act he had witnessed earlier. "It was nothing. I couldn't just let the girl being abused like that." Axel followed along, turning slightly preparing to leave when Seryu grabbed his arm. "That's exactly the kind of mindset that one in the Imperial Police should have. I want you to join and help me with my endeavor to destroy evil!" She suggested excitedly. _"This is not what I had in mind, but perhaps this is the opportunity I need."_ Axel thought. "Hm, perhaps I'll take you up on the matter." Axel decided, to which the girl responded with a smile and began dragging him off towards the recruitment office.

A short walk and an application later, Axel was standing before a large man in a set of imperial armor. "So, Axel, you want to join the Imperial Police." He barked at Axel, seemingly trying to intimidate the young man as he read his application. "I suppose that's why I'm here today." Axel answered, sarcasm evident in his tone. "That lip of yours is going to be ripped out by the time I'm done with you." The officer stated angrily. Axel simply stared at the man. "You are to report back here tomorrow at sunrise for the mental and physical evaluation. Don't be late or I'll make you wish you never came through those doors." The officer stated. _"Jokes on you. I already wish that."_ Axel thought as he was leaving the building. He was walking alongside Seryu, whom had yet to leave his side since tracking him down. "Are you excited, after your evaluation, you'll be my partner!" Seryu exclaimed. "I suppose so. It's not how I expected to spend my time here, but sure why not." Axel responded. "If I may ask, why did you join the Imperial Police?" He questioned as the two continued walking. Seryu's face took a darker tone before she answered, "My father had a strong sense of justice and was in the military police force. He did amazing things in his lifetime, but was struck down by an evil organization known as Night Raid. Those heathens even claimed the life of my mentor, Captain Ogre! I will never forgive them for that and swear to hunt them down." "Hmm…I wonder who was responsible for killing Ogre." Axel stated, barely containing a chuckle as he played with fire. "Whoever did it will pay one of these days. That I am sure off." Seryu chimed in. "I have to continue my route now, get some rest for tomorrow, the physical assessment is not an easy one." Seryu instructed. Heeding her advice, he split off and walked back towards his home, taking the time to wind around just in case Seryu decided to tail him again for whatever reason. He arrived at the living space twenty minutes later.

Tatsumi was still in the home, having honored the request given to him. "So did you find her?" He asked. "On the contrary, she found me and it will be much easier for me to gain her trust as of tomorrow." Axel stated. "How so? Tatsumi questioned further. "Oh because I'm joining the Imperial Police." Axel blurted out, catching Tatsumi off guard. "You're what?!" Tatsumi screamed. "Calm yourself, if anything it will hasten the operation." Axel explained before walking out and approaching the girl's room and knocking lightly. "I'm coming in." He said, before walking in moments later. The girl was still curled up on the bed, but this time she was fiddling with the scarf and had her arm outstretched. Her eyes and scarf were once again glowing a purple color. A few feet away from her, a small can was floating in the air, outlined by a light purple energy. I observed her power from the doorway for a short while. "That's a very interesting power you have there." He stated, snapping the girl out of her focus. She gasped slightly and the can fell to the ground with her eyes and scarf returning to their natural colors. "I…um…I'm not really sure how it works, but ever since I first got it, I've felt a strange presence within it." She said meekly. "And this presence gives you psychic powers?" I asked further. She simply nodded, burying her head in the scarf as she did. "Hm, well you're in possession of possibly a very powerful weapon." I informed her. She seemed to get defensive at my statement. "Oh don't worry, I don't wish to take that from you, you seemed rather attached to it." He said, "Besides, I have my own personal treasure." Stating this, he stretched his left palm outward and manifested its glove, causing the girl to stare at it with wide eyes as it crackled with electricity. He disengaged the glove and looked at her once more. "If you're willing, in a few days, I can introduce you to a friend of mine who can help you learn how to better defend yourself using your powers." he suggested, to which she nodded enthusiastically. "Glad to hear it. Well I'm going to call it a night, but before I go, and I should have asked earlier, but what is your name?" Axel asked. "Lana, my name is Lana." The girl responded with a small smile on her face. "Well Lana, my name is Axel and my friend next door is called Tatsumi. Anyway, goodnight." He finished and left the girls room, once again returning to Tatsumi.

"You know Lubbock isn't going to be happy that you've brought home another girl right?" Tatsumi pointed out. Confused for a moment before realizing how thin the walls were, Axel chuckled. "He needs to relax with that complex of his." Axel said to which Tatsumi agreed. "I've got some evaluations in the morning, so I'm going to need to get some rest, so yea." Axel informed Tatsumi, who nodded and offered the bed. Axel laid down on the mattress and allowed himself to drift off.

 **[AN: Axel POV]**

Early that morning, I woke up. _"The beginning of hell is today…"_ I thought with an annoyed expression on my face. Getting myself together, I walked out the small apartment while Tatsumi and Lana were still asleep, leaving a note so the two weren't alarmed. I made my way back towards the recruitment center once again and was greeted by Seryu who was waiting for me. "Excited for your big day?!" She asked me in her usual bubbly attitude. I simply shrugged my shoulders as we walked in. As I signed in, the instructor handed me a set of armor and told me to get changed. Doing as I was told, he marched me and a few other recruits over to a set of desks. Handing each of us papers with various questions on them, he stated we had ten minutes to complete them and started a watch. The test wasn't particularly hard, it seemed to be in place solely to make sure we could do basic math and read. When we were all finished, he told us to line up in front of the door to his office. I was in the back of the line. Over the course of forty-five minutes many recruits came out of his office either in tears or lightly shaking. When it finally became my turn, I walked in and set down in front of the officer.

"Alright son, I'm gonna ask you a set of question and if you're anything but honest with me, than you'll end up the same as those whimpering maggots I ran out of here earlier." He warned to which I nodded. "First question. Why do you want to join the Imperial Police force?" He asked. "I want to protect and serve, sir. Thought that I'd do something meaningful with my life." I lied. The officer laughed and wrote down my response. "Second question, what, if any, combat experience do you possess?" He questioned. "Well I have many years of hand-to-hand combat under my belt." I stated. He wrote that down and continued. "Last question and this is really the only one that really matters. How willing are you to take a life?" The guard asked with a serious face. "If I must take the life of another being, than I will do so." Axel stated, hoping he wouldn't regret his statement. Writing down his final response, the instructor looked up and ushered him out the office.

After all recruits had been sent through for mental evaluation, the instructor dragged us out behind the facility onto a training field. "Alright recruits, now we'll begin the physical evaluation. Unlike the mental evaluation where I would have passed you even if you were dumb as bricks or a complete psychopath, you'll have to have at least one athletic bone in your body to pass this course." The instructor informed us, motioning to the training course behind him as he did so. It was fairly rudimentary, net climb, tires, pull up bars, climbing wall. The works. We all lined up at a starting line and prepared to start. When the instructor fired a starting pistol, I took off towards the first obstacle, which happened to be a set of tires sprawled on the ground that we had to run through. Completing the section effortlessly, I moved on to a net climbing area. I moved through this course in short order as well. Next up was a set of pull up bars where we were instructed by another officer to complete twenty pull ups and then 20 push-ups before moving on. Naturally, I flew through those as well. The next big obstacle was the climbing wall, I started to pull up and looked back to see many recruits had just began finished the third section. "Hope I'm not showing off too much" I muttered to myself. Continuing the climb up and then back down the wall, I than completed the last obstacle which was a sprint back around to the instructor. I gathered my breath before starting and took off at a fair pace. Along the way there were a few gaps and pitfalls, but these were of little trouble. I lapped around to the instructor easily.

"Well, son aren't you fast." The instructor said, seemingly pleased with my performance. The other recruits finished shortly after me, all with varying responses to my success ranging from jealousy, awe and suspicion. Moving us to less crowded area of the field, the instructor put on a set of armor and drew a sword. "Now we will begin the combat assessment. I won't lie, recruits have gotten hurt during this course before. However lucky for you, you caught me on a sober day." The instructor said with a chuckle. First up was a young lady who could barely hold her sword straight, much less block. He left a dew scratches on her arms and knocked the sword out of her grasp, but where she seemed to shine was her speed. Next on the chopping block was a tall muscular man. He held his sword firmly and with quite a bit of confidence, which was quickly lost when the instructor swept his feet from under him and pinned him.

I was up after a few more embarrassing attempts. I was handed a sword of my own. I weighed the sword in my hands, shifting the weight back and forth before tossing it down beside me. This caught the others off-guard before I materialized my gauntlets partially. This caused a few to let out a gasp, Seryu included as she was standing in the sidelines. "A teigu user. Wasn't expecting that. I'm impressed recruit, let's see what else you've been hiding." The instructor stated, accepting the challenge. Getting into position, I waited and let him charge me. I sidestepped his dash and went for a low punch, which he blocked with the sword and retaliated with one of his own, which I caught with my free arm. Pushing off the larger man, I put distance between us. He charged me again and threw a number of slashes at me, all of which I dodged. After a particularly heavy swing, I used the following delay to get under him and hoist him up by the legs, utilizing my extra strength, and threw him a short distance away. He landed rather hard on his backside, but got back up rather quickly. "Hm, I like what I see. Seryu, you've picked a good one." The instructor praised to which Seryu nodded. That marked the end of my evaluations and after obtaining my certifications and uniform, I was free to leave at which point I was officially my Seryu's partner. When we left the building she immediately tackled me in a hug. "Congratulations on becoming an officer! I didn't know you were already so accustomed! I definitely didn't know you had a teigu!" she gushed as she released me from her grasp. I, as usual, shrugged off her enthusiasm. "Well we have our first patrol together to get started. Follow me!" She said grabbing my arm and leading me onto her route through the capital. I picked up on a few comments from the neighboring citizens as we passed them. "They look cute together." "She's a monster!" "He doesn't look like he wants to be there…

 **[AN: Third Person POV]**

The two strolled along the patrol route Seryu planned for the two of, making minor arrest of petty thieves along the way. "Hm, your first patrol was supposed to be exciting, but right now things are too calm." Seryu complained. _"Eh…Shouldn't that be a good thing…Crazy."_ Axel thought while sweat-dropping. The two stopped for drinks at a local lemonade kiosk and set down on a bench overlooking a park with small children playing in it. Seryu seemed rather calm at the moment and various kids came over to pet Koro, blissfully unaware of neither Koro nor his owner's dark side. After relaxing for a bit, the two continued into a seedier location. Both had their guards up as numerous individuals within the crowds of people stopped to stare at the two. A few even shouted some form of mild insult, but were widely ignored. Suddenly, the two of them had been cut of by a group of men and quickly encircled the two. One of them stepped forward, "You two officers have some nerve coming here. What do you think boys? Shall we kill the runt and teach the girl a lesson?" He said, earning enthusiastic shouts from the others. Both Axel and Seryu had serious looks on their faces, getting into combat stances. "Are you sure you want to do this? I can assure you it won't end well." Axel warned, but it did little more than garner a chuckle from the men as they pulled out short swords and daggers. "Fine than." Axel sighed, manifesting his teigu. Seryu had a disgusted look on her face and pulled her staffs from their holsters, not even determining Koro necessary. The two were back to back, ready for the attack. "Well, you take the six in front of you, I'll take the seven in front of me?" Axel suggested. "Sounds like a plan" Seryu responded. Not wasting any time the two charged and into their own battles.

Axel dodged and blocked sword and dagger strikes with ease. Seryu utilized her tonfas to quickly dispatch her targets. Any enemy that got to close to Axel had their head smashed in by his gauntlets. He held back, not wanting to reveal the full extent of his powers. He snapped the arm of on that tried to grab him. Axel heard a few bangs behind him and figured Seryu was doing just fine. Two tried to gang up on Axel, he simply reached out and grabbed the two by the front of the face. One was burned to death and the other was electrocuted. Seryu dispatched the last of her targets as Axel was dealing with the last of his, who smartly stood out of reach and used a number of throwing knives. Axel merely deflected them as he attempted to close the distance. He never got the chance to do so as Seryu simply shot the man while he was preoccupied. The threat passing, the two disengaged and looked around, making sure any others planning to throw their life away got the message before continuing their route.

The remainder of the route was uneventful, ending with Seryu congratulating him on a good first day as we went our separate ways. _"If killing eleven guys can be considered a good day."_ He thought to himself. He made his way back home once more, coming through the entrance quietly. He was met by Tatsumi in his room. "Huh, Imperial armor suits you." He joked, to which Axel merely chuckled as he was removing the body armor. "You didn't spare any expenses with those guys earlier." Tatsumi brought up. "How would you know? I told you to stay here." Axel questioned. "I went out to get some food for Lana and myself and overheard the rumor. You burnt one of their faces till he died?" Tatsumi stated with slightly disgusted look. Axel simply shrugged. He didn't want to go that hard, but if he was going to gain Seryu trust, he had to commit. Even if that meant no mercy.

Not wishing to continue this conversation, Axel walked out the room and lightly tapped on Lana's door before entering. She was once again practicing work with her teigu. Thus time she had used her power to pull the can apart and was manipulating it into rather unique shapes. "You seem to get better by the day." I praised, causing Lana to look up from her work. "Well when you're stuck with little else to do, you find time to practice." She said with a smile. Thinking on the matter, she had not left in the two days that she had been living here. "Hm, well I do believe I can fix that. How about I take you to get some fresh clothes tomorrow?" He suggested, to which the girl nodded eagerly. "Well than it's settled." He said getting and walking out the room.

 **[AN: Axel POV]**

Walking once more into Tatsumi's room, I asked if he'd spoken to Najenda yet. He nodded and handed me a small tube of paper, "That large bird you tamed the other day flew up to the window the other day with this attached to his leg." Messenger bird? I guess she was serious about training Midas. Unrolling the paper, I read aloud. _"Dear Axel and Tatsumi, good work so far. I will pick up the girl in the following days, so for now keep her safe. I didn't expect you to join the Imperial Military, but if it is for the mission, just don't do anything stupid. Will send money and supplies in a day._ – Najenda. Rolling the paper back up, I burned it in my first. "Well since it seems like we're going to be here a while, it's a good thing Najenda is supplying us. And it's probably best if we got Lana out of here before things started to pick up.

 **[Timeskip: Next Afternoon]**

My second patrol was rather uneventful. Arriving back home, I was surprised to see Tatsumi had vacated the building. He was probably relaying information to the others. As I promised the other day, I was to take Lana shopping today. Luckily, the money Najenda sent arrived today, so hopefully I had enough to satisfy the girl's desires. Ridding myself of my imperial garbs and redressing into something more comfortable, I went to go see if Lana was ready to go.

"Lana, you ready to go?" I called from behind the door. "Yea just about. You can come in." She called back. Letting myself in, I saw the jacket I let her borrow folded up on the bed. The clothes that had previously been ripped to shreds had magically repaired themselves. Or maybe psychically. "I'm guessing you did that?" I questioned. "Yup! I was fiddling with the strands when I got the idea to use my powers to weave what was left back together. It's kind of tight now though." She admitted. "Well it's great that we're going to get you some fresh clothes." I reinstated, to which she smiled widely. Leading her out the apartment, we walked down to the more commercial areas. As we passed the stores filled with clothing, I saw how her eyes lit up, this time not literally. Only when we entered the first shop did I realize what I'd gotten myself into. _"A guy doesn't go to help pick out clothes, he goes to wait, hold the bags, and pay the bill."_ I thought. Groaning softly under my breath. "At least she seems happy" I thought again as I watched her look around the store.

 **[Timeskip: 3 hours]**

Carrying a multitude of different colored bags, we walked down the street back to our shared apartment. Lana had long discarded her small and damaged clothes for a new outfit. She was now dressed in a tight-fitting long sleeve shirt that was black in color and a pair of black skinny jeans to match. She also had a loose-fitting hooded white crop top on over top the shirt. She finished with purple sneakers. She still had the purple scarf around her neck.

"I hope you're happy, because now I'm broke." I stated with a sad chuckle. "Thank you." She said with a genuine smile while moving in to give me a hug. The two us continued walking when I started to get a bad feeling. We'd walked into an abandoned stretch of houses and road and despite it being abandoned, I felt as if it way too quiet. Lana noticed me tensing up and looked around herself. "Not good." I thought. As I had predicted, multiple thugs began jumping from houses and out alleyways in front of and behind us. They all moved in to surround us and a very familiar face stepped forward. "So, we meet again Lana. I see your still with that jackass." Came the voice of the same corrupt landlord I'd knocked out days prior. "I see you've convinced your little boyfriend to go and get you out of those rags." He continued to tease. "While I hate to interrupt your date, I'm afraid there's been a change of plans. Firstly, you're going to come with me so we can finally figure out how you're going to pay me what you owe." He started with a malicious look in his eyes, "Otherwise we'll kill tough guy over here and drag you back to the slums you belong in." I had a stone cold look on my face listening to him drone on. I stepped forward and he and his gang all pulled out small handguns, forcing me to step back. "Oh no. We're not gonna be having any of that." He warned aiming his gun at my forehead. _"Shit, even if cover Lana as much as possible, I won't be able to cover all angles."_ I panicked, trying to think of a solution. I slowly set the bags down on the ground and pulled Lana closer to me. She wrapped her arms around my torso and shut her eyes, cementing our already grim situation. The only thing I could think to do would be to send out fire in an attempt to melt bullets before they hit us, but I wasn't sure if the flame would be hot enough to even melt them in time. "So I guess we're going with option two then. Your decision." He said, taking aim, all his men mirroring him. I got in front of Lana when I heard the boom of their weapons, materializing my armor as far as I could. However the bullets never got to me or Lana. I heard constant firing, but nothing was connecting. Looking up, I saw Lana's eyes were glowing as well as her scarf and she had her arms spend forward. Her hands were glowing a purple hue and there was a transparent purple dome surrounding Lana and I.

"Lana you've come this far in training yourself? I'm impressed." I praised, standing back up. She seemed too focused to give a reply. Taking a second to think, I formulated a plan. _"Let's try something."_ I thought, pointing my right arm forward. I launched my fire out onto the ground in a straight line a short distance in front of us and did the same behind. "Let's see how much control I have." I stated. I closed my fist hard and concentrated and my flames grew larger. "Interesting." I liked what I saw and decided to push it a step forward. More than a few steps actually. Opening my palm, I willed my flames to scorch forward towards the thugs. Panicking, some started to back away, falling in the process and being swallowed by the flames. The smart ones fled the scene without looking back. Thugs either ran or burned to death until there was only the crooked boss himself left over. He backed himself into a corner and slid down the wall as my flames inched ever closer.

"Monsters! Your both monsters!" he howled, scared beyond reason. I stopped by he flames before they burnt him. Noticing my withdrawal, Lana also dematerialized the barrier, panting a bit from the effort. We both walked up to the cowering man, causing him to withdraw farther into the corner. His gun had long run out of bullets, but he kept on in his panicked state, wrenching on the trigger. I grabbed the nose of the pistol and bent it backwards till it pointed his way. Dropping the destroyed firearm, he looked up at us before speaking. "Please! I'll give anything! Just don't kill me! I won't bother either of you ever again! Please!" he begged. Looking down on him for a few short moments, I turned to face Lana. "This is ultimately your decision." I stated, handing the man's life to Lana. She stared at the man, but ultimately looked off, shaking her head. "Consider yourself lucky. If I EVER see you again, you know what comes next." I warned him resisting the urge to end him right now. Turning away letting Lana lead, we began to leave, but not before I spat at the ground in front of the crook, making eye contact one last time. We walked off and out of the abandoned sector.

 **[AN: Third Person]**

As the duo left the tract of houses, another set of individuals slowly crept into it, keeping their presence hidden as they stalked their target. Still leaned against the wall, the traumatized landlord was still trying to calm his nerves. Around him were the burnt bodies of quite a few of his men. He had no idea people like them even existed. He'd seen some strange girl that was capable of controlling a large beast, but that was nothing compared to one who can control fire! Not to mention he'd definitely been playing on thin ice with Lana. She can stop bullets with her mind! He considered himself lucky she didn't have it in her to kill him. He'd get them back though. This is twice though he'd been beaten. Matters were made worse this time since he'd lost a large amount of men. It may take some time, but some way he'd get his revenge. _"First, I'll see about preoccupying the boy, then I'll lure the girl away and finish her once and for all."_ He thought devilishly. "Perhaps I'll hire an assassin." He contemplated out loud.

"I'm sorry to inform you, but contracting and or conspiring with assassins is prohibited and punishable by extended time in the dungeons." Came a voice dripping malicious intent. Jumping to his feet and looking around frantically for the speaker, "Who said that? Show yourself!" He yelled, growing increasingly wary. "However, I do believe you'll be able to avoid jail time thanks to your numerous other charges. Let's see here – harassment, kidnapping, attempted rape, two charges attempted armed murder, suspected mob activity. Yup, all these charges grant you a one way ticket to a stake." The voice continued. "Your time is up Oliver, you've reared your disgusting head a bit too high and now the long arm of justice is here to lop it off." The owner of the voice revealing themselves as they jumped down from a low-hanging roof top, landing in front of Oliver. Seryu and Koro stood in front of Oliver who was visibly shaking by the sight before him. "I've been tracking your activity for the past few days, and I do say that you've kept busy. Harassing your tenants, amassing illegal firearms, and to top it off, attempting to not only harm the innocent, but the same young women from before. It's especially hilarious because both times you were halted by my partner. You'd think you' learn, but don't worry, I won't hold it against you." Seryu explained as she threw a file folder down at Oliver's feet, causing many photos and documents of his crimes to spill out, causing Oliver to panic even more as he looked through the incriminating evidence. "However, unlike the first and most recent of those times, you're alone with someone much less merciful than Axel" Seryu trailed off.

Catching Seryu's drift, the man took off running in an attempt to escape. "I love it when they run, it makes it all the more satisfying when we catch them. KORO!" Seryu commanded, to which her teigu responded with immediately, pursuing the dead man. Seryu let Koro deal with the runaway as she contemplated the chain of events that took place on this road. _"So, the girl has access to a teigu also. Perhaps it's just coincidence that Axel came across her, it's not as if he knew of her beforehand. Then again, perhaps it's not…"_ Seryu thought, uncaring to the final pained screams of the crook Koro was currently devouring.

Finally arriving back at the apartment, the three occupants were preparing a meeting. Axel was conversing with Tatsumi while Lana packed her belongings into a small suitcase. "And you're absolutely sure this is where Najenda is going to be?" Axel questioned. "If you want to read the note for yourself, than be my guest." Tatsumi answered, handing the scroll once again delivered to them by Midas. "We can't take long on this, the guards will notice three people jumping around on the rooftops before long." Axel stated. "As long as there's no hang-ups, we'll be fine." Tatsumi assured him. "We'll be leaving under the cover of the night, so that means we'll have to go in about 45 minutes." Tatsumi informed him. Nodding, Axel left the room to go check in on Lana.

Knocking lightly he entered the room where Lana ha finished packing and was waiting for their departure. "I see you're packed and ready to go." Axel commented with a smile. Lana nodded on in agreement, "So, this person we're going to meet. They're good people right?" Lana asked, wary of the company awaiting her. "Trust me, both me and Tatsumi will tell you that they are a great bunch to be accustomed with. However, I should probably tell you something if you're willing to keep it a secret." He mentioned, taking a seat on the bed next to her. Lana waited a bit before nodding. "Well, Tatsumi and I are actually apart of Night Raid." Axel stated, noting the slight shock on her face, "The one we're meeting tonight is actually our leader. When I informed her of you and your powers, she'd became interested in you. She'd offered to give you a real place to stay and to train you in how to properly use the powers locked in that scarf of yours." He waited a moment to allow Lana to process the information she'd been presented with. "Won't that mean that I'll be a wanted criminal?" She prodded, noticing how Axel winced at the word "criminal". "While all I can say for certain is that you'll only be wanted by the capital if you make yourself a target through any means. But, generally speaking, there is that danger." Axel explained. Lana took a moment before responding, "Well as long as you're there to protect me, I suppose I wouldn't have to be as afraid…" Lana admitted, catching Axel a bit off guard. Smiling at her decision, he arose from his seated position and looked outside. "Whelp, it's time we left." He decided, signaling Lana to stand and grab her suitcase. The two walked out the room and Lana waited at the exit while Tatsumi an Axel did last minute preparations. "I'll have you know that I, personally, am glad that is joining us. Especially after you royally spilled the beans like that." Tatsumi commented in a hushed voice, once again alerting Axel to the paper thin walls of their shared welling. Chuckling lightly, "That makes two of us." He added, a brief scenario of her rejection to his offer playing through his head. It was grim.

The trio now left the house and procced to an empty alleyway away from prying eyes. Materializing his teigu for the performance boost, Axel turned to Lana. "Ready?" He asked her, to which she displayed a confused expression. "Yes? What are we doing, I thought we were simply going to meet your friend." She questioned. "We are, were just going to bypass the gated checkpoints." Axel informed her. "Via the roofs." Tatsumi chimed, snickering at Lana's shock. "Um…ok, but I can't jump that far…" Lana stated, still confused on how they were going to accomplish this feat. "That's a non-issue, I'll simply carry you one my back. This teigu makes heavy listing rather easy. Not that you're heavy!" Axel explained before catching himself. Lana simply laughed off the comment. Axel leaned down allowing Lana to climb onto his back and Tatsumi grabbed her luggage. The two stepped back a bit before running at the wall and jumping up and off of them repeatedly until they got to the rooftops. "You alright so far?" Axel questioned as they began the run across the rooftops, jumping great distances every few moments. Lana ha shut her eyes and pressed her face into Axel's back when they began, but looked up when Axel questioned. "Yea, I'm alright, just a bit afraid of heights is all…" Lana said. "Don't worry, we'll be there in no time." Axel assured her as he continued his leaping and bounding.

The three traversed across the city rooftops undetected before coming across a wall that was low enough for Axel to jump and grab the ledge of, however the others wouldn't be able to jump far enough. "Alright Tatsumi come here, I'll chuck you across the gap." Axel stated, to which Tatsumi fired back. "Is there not a safer way?!" He questioned. "Don't worry, I was here earlier, there's plenty of trees on the other side to catch you if I overshoot." Axel reassured. "If you say so…" Tatsumi said still slightly unsure. Axel grabbed Tatsumi by the back of his shirt and the hem of his pants and took a few steps back. "You're giving me a wedgie!" Tatsumi complained from the awkward handling, Axel muttering a quick sorry. Jumping forward slightly, he threw Tatsumi up to the ledge of the wall. Tatsumi caught the edge and pulled himself up an over, sliding down the other side. "Alright, our turn, hold on extra tight." Axel instructed, Lana following suit and wrapping around him tighter. Stepping further back, Axel took off towards the edge of their rooftop before pushing off with enough force to leave a small crack in the roofing. As the two flew through the air, he could hear Lana screaming into his back. Seconds later, he collided with the wall and grabbed a firm hold of the ledge. "See that wasn't so bad." He commented, looking back to see Lana close to tears, in a comical sense. He climbed to the top of the wall and jumped down, falling a short distance to the forest floor below.

Tatsumi appeared next to him and the trio began the trek to meet Najenda. The three walked for about 20 minutes before hearing a sharp whistle coming, turning towards it and finding Najenda waiting up against a tree. "Yo, over here." Najenda called out. "How you been boss?" Tatsumi greeted. "Fine, I see this is the new recruit you spoke of." Najenda replied, diverting her attention to Lana, who simply stared at the older woman. "So little lady, you got a name?" Najenda asked. "Lana. You're the one who's going to teach me how to use my powers better, right?" She asked, Najenda nodding in response. "We're going to train you as best we can so you can properly protect yourself." Najenda stated. Lana's mood lightened somewhat at hearing this.

"In other news, there's been a slight change of plans boys. Forget about killing Seryu for now. We've gotten wind that Esdese is returning from her campaign against the north. She's holding some sort of competition. We don't know why she's doing so. And not knowing is troublesome, so I want the two of you to register and see what's up. If you happen to fight each other, don't do anything stupid. That is all." Najenda finished, staring more at Axel near the end. Najenda began to lead Lana away when Tatsumi chimed in, "Wait who is Esdese?" He questioned. Najenda turned for a moment, giving the two a serious face, "She, almost single-handedly, wiped out the northern threat. She is very much so the strongest individual currently in the capital. She's also the one who took my arm and eye." Najenda explained, leaving the three younger members baffled. "So like I said, find out what she's up to, keep your head down, and most importantly don't do anything stupid. She is not someone you want to deal with." Najenda explained again, to which the two nodded. She than walked off with Lana in tow, the latter waving goodbye.


	5. Chapter 5

**[AN: Third Person POV]**

Heeding Najenda's orders, the two proceeded to sign up for general's tournament. The two did so individually, to avoid raising any possible suspicion. When Seryu heard the news, she was excited to watch Axel go all out against the opposition. Axel was unsure of who exactly he'd be facing, but since it was an open tourney, he prepared for all types of combatants. There was nothing in the rules explicitly banning the use of teigu, but Axel wanted to play it safe, so he decided to practice limited transformations of his teigu. For the days leading up the day of the competition, he practiced limiting the manifestation of his guards, somewhat backwards-thinking in regards to regular combat, but he decided any extra control he gained over his teigu would be a good thing. The lowest he'd gotten the arm guard down to, without severely hampering his powers, was to a bit less than halfway up his forearm. "If necessary, I can simply flare them back up for a power boost." He decided.

Tatsumi chose to spend his time before the contest by practicing his swordsmanship and his honing his speed. He knows he doesn't bring much to the table in terms of power, but he's able to make up for with his technique and speed. "Uh Axel, if we face each other in during this competition, try not to kill me please." Tatsumi warned Axel, "I won't kill you. Still gotta make it convincing though, I implore you not to hold back." Axel responded. Tatsumi simply groaned in response.

The competition was set to be held in oneday and the two had a hard time training without getting noticed, so they had to keep it rather subtle. Axel performed his patrol routes and Tatsumi continued his surveillance until the night before the competition.

The two arrived to the event separately and registered before taking their seats within the participants section of a large coliseum. The area was rather was very long, lined with enough seating to accommodate a large number of participants. It had one long opening in the front with bars laced in the opening, providing an unobstructed view to the carnage outside.

There was a large stairwell leading upward to a seating area presumably for those in charge of the contest. Sitting atop a large throne was the general herself, Esdese, dressed in her usual military outfit. Without speaking, she seemed to demand the utmost respect and attention. When she did speak, the entire stadium fell silent. "Those of you here to compete today, I commemorate you for your bravery. There's only one rule in this contest. You are not allowed to leave the fighting grounds until you or your opponent are rendered unable to continue, by means of knock out or otherwise." She finished with a malicious grin. Signaling for the beginning of the tournament with a wave of her arm, an announcer seated below her began to read names off a list, two at a time.

The battles proceeded rather predictably, it was a well-known fact that there was a reward tied to this competition, so naturally many of the poor and desperate signed up in a feeble attempt to put food their tables. As to be expected, there were also those who signed up in the hopes of proving their skills and impressing the general, a vain attempt and ended in rather gruesomely one-sided battles. After some eight or nine battered bodies had been dragged off the field, the announcer made his next call.

"The next combatant shall be….TATSUMI VERSUS BAZARD THE INSANE!" He roared, signaling for Tatsumi to take the stage. Following to the opposite side of him was a large hulk of a man. He had numerous scars across his body and had very little in the ways of armor except for simple arm guards. He was armed with a large spiked bat. He spoke in a slow and deep voice, "My opponent is a kid?! Are you serious?" He questioned, raising a few laughs and snickers from the crowd. Tatsumi simply glared at the man, slowly letting go of any remorse for what he planned to do, as he got into a fighting stance, drawing his short sword. "Oh it looks like he's serious about this, well I might as well give him what he wants." Bazard stated, pulling his bat. Without any needed cue, Tatsumi charged forward aiming to stab the man, whom parried it before punching Tatsumi square in the gut, sending him flying backwards a short distances. While Tatsumi was catching the wind he had knocked out of him, Bazard leaped forward with his bat held high above his head, aiming to cave in Tatsumi's skull. Tatsumi jumped out the way narrowly dodging the attack. Tatsumi charged the man once more, but aimed for a more slashing attacking. The slash was caught by the man's bat, knocking him back to the side a bit. Tatsumi gave him no time to rest as he continued slashing against the wooden weapon. Deciding he'd had enough of these games, Bazard pushed Tatsumi be back with a shove oh his bat, before winding up for a large swing. Taking the opening, Tatsumi ducked the attack and gave a swing of his own, connecting with the bat and chopping it in two.

Bazard was taken aback by the destruction of his weapon of choice, utilizing his confusion, Tatsumi dashed forward with another cutting attack and slashed the man across his abdomen. The man doubled over in pain, but did not collapse, choosing to get back up and face Tatsumi who was now behind him. "You're pretty fast boy, but a little slash isn't enough to down me." He stated confidently. _"Damn, the cut wasn't deep enough to incapacitate him."_ Tatsumi thought as he saw the man continue forward, despite the bleeding wound in his side. The man moved far faster than Tatsumi would expect, swinging wildly. Tatsumi easily dodged the man's attacks as his wound he'd received earlier began to take its toll.

Choosing to end the fight, Tatsumi began dashing back and forth, slashing the man numerous times in the process. Still the man did not fall, despite having many shallow cuts along his body. On Tatsumi's final dash at the man, he jumped and kicked him in the chest, knocking him to the ground, simultaneously stabbing him in the chest. The force of the fall forced Tatsumi's blade deep into the man's chest, killing him finally. Standing up solemnly, he pulled his sword from the man's chest.

The stadium was silent for a moment, before the announcer came on again. "And the winner by lethal takedown is TATSUMI!" He once again shouted at the top of his lungs, causing the crowd to erupt in uproar. Up until then, the fights had not interested Esdese very much, but seeing Tatsumi battle had peaked her interest quite a bit. She decided to keep her eyes on him until the tourney ended, she was unsure of what it was, but something about Tatsumi grabbed her attention. As Tatsumi walked back to his seating area, he garnered a few stares from the other competitors.

 **[AN: Axel POV]**

Watching Tatsumi fight was rather interesting, I wasn't expecting him to be so flashy about it either. _"Hm, if that's what Tatsumi's capable of even without a teigu, I don't see why Mine has any reason to mark him off as useless."_ I thought as a couple more fights came and went, each more gruesome than the last.

"Next to take the field! AXEL OF THE IMPERIAL GUARD VERSUS RICHARD DIX!" The announcer chanted, signaling for me to go forth. _"Of course I'm last…"_ I thought, slightly annoyed. I could hear Seryu and a large group of guards cheering for me as I walked forward, representing the Imperial Guard as I wore the chest plate of my uniform. The man whom would be my opponent wasn't too much taller than me and was visually buff. He wore a simple red and black cloak and loose fitting black pants. He held tightly onto a long staff with metal end caps. He raised his stick till it was about chest level and I took that as my cue to deploy my own weapons. My gauntlets materialized in their more limited forms, gaining a number of gasps from the crowd. Raising my fist and getting into my own stance, I waited a moment before charging forward.

The man gathered himself in a defensive stance as I rapidly approached him. Getting close enough to throw a punch, I threw a number of punches both high and low, which he dodged and blocked appropriately. He suddenly spun his staff rapidly between the two of us, forcing me to back off lest I get my arms smashed by his staff. The two of us began circling around before he charged, his staff stretched out forward. I caught the end of the staff roughly in my left palm and punched forward with my right, smashing him in the chest. The force behind the punch was enough to send him skidding backwards, ripping the staff from my hands. Using the staff as a prop, he gathered himself before returning to his stance. The bout of circling resumed before we clashed once more. The staff wielder opening with a flurry of jabs with his staff, all of which I blocked. I exploited any openings to unleash some punches of my own, not many connecting as forcefully as intended due to the two of us constantly leaping about, but I could tell the man's endurance was slowly whittling away.

Opening up room between us, the man switched from small jabs to large swipes, aiming to crack me in the face or body. He spun the staff around himself to build momentum, making the swipes rather fast and forceful. Blocking the attack with my open palms, I grunted in pain as they landed. After a number of painfully blocked swings, I grabbed the long end of the staff, yanking it towards me and by extension the person wielding it, before sending a forceful strike to Richard's face. This knocked Richard back a fair distance, my own grip on the bo staff ripping it out of Richard's. He landed on his back a number of meters back. He got up in time to see me forcefully bend the staff till it snapped in two and then chuck it towards the man. He looked down at his ruined equipment, shaking slightly in anger. _"Did I go too far? That might have been a bit rude"_ I thought. The man picked up one of the ends, thumbing the metal plate, causing a small blade to extend forward. The man held out the bladed short staff and rushed me. He swiped high and I rolled out from under him before jumping back a bit. I landed near the other end of the staff and got an idea to end the fight.

Picking up the staff, I waited for him to decide to rush me again, which didn't take long. As he approached to swipe, I dodged his attacks until he let loose a rather heavy swipe which I jumped backwards to avoid, leaving him wide open. As I fell back, I threw the other end of the staff at the man. The attack wasn't aimed at his face, which he guarded with his arms, but rather his knee which was very exposed. The metal end of the staff connected with the man's knee cap with a loud cracking sound, sending the man to the ground, keeling on his other uninjured knee. Taking the opening, I ran forward before strongly kneeing him in the face, jumping slightly. The force of the impact knocking him backwards and unconscious.

"AND WITH A DECISIVE VICTORY, THE WINNER IS AXEL!" the commentator announced, sending the crowd into a bout of cheers as I disengaged my gauntlets. I took my seat back in the caged area, which was considerably emptier now, and awaited my next fight.

 **[AN: Third Person]**

Axel's fight signaled the end of the tourney for that day. It was originally scheduled to last only a day, but the influx of participants meant it would take two days minimum to get thru the rest and then possibly another day to run the final championship branches. Axel decided to leave ahead of Tatsumi and was greeted by Seryu and the group of guards that witnessed the tournament that day. The group was congratulating Axel on his fight and began dragging Axel of to get something to eat. Tatsumi waited till he was the last in the fighter's booth before leaving. As he was leaving he was greeted by a most shocking sight.

Waiting on the other end of the door was General Esdese herself. This caught him off guard and he jumped back in shock, slightly readying himself for a fight. "No need to be so jumpy Tatsumi, I merely came to congratulate you on your victory."

 **[Tatsumi POV]**

I backed away almost as if by instinct. Something about her…disturbed me. "Now then, I have a proposition for you that you simply can't refuse. In exchange for my endless attention and anything you could ever want within reason, I want you, to become mine." She proposed, taking another step towards me. "Excuse me?" I shot back, rather taken back by her statement. "It's simple. Give yourself to me entirely and I could won't throw you in the torture room." She said again. Taking another step closer she pulled out what looked like some type of collar. It was at this point I decided to take my leave. "Uhm…I'm flattered, but I'm going to have to politely decline your generous offer." I said, starting to scoot past her and towards the door. She maneuvered to block me once more. "That's just it, this is an offer you simply can't refuse. As In I won't take no for an answer." She clarified, moving faster than I could process, ending up behind me and clasping that collar around my neck. She then began pulling me back into the arena via some chain attached to the collar. "Agh! Chocking! Help! Somebody!" I struggled, but couldn't free myself from the collar.

* * *

 **[Timeskip: 3 hours]**

 **[Axel POV]**

Having finally broken away from Seryu and the others, I journeyed back to apartment. It was empty and felt unnaturally quiet. It was rather unsettling to put it bluntly and I had no idea why. I knew it would be empty, just not for this long. Tatsumi should have been returned from whatever it is he's doing.

"I might as well relax for now." I decided, walking to my room. Reaching for the knob, the door was already open. _"I'm pretty sure this was closed when I left…"_ I thought. Although I could have just forgotten to shut it, that wasn't the only thing that was odd. The bed was messed up as well, and the window was wide open.  
 _"Not good"_ I thought, _"Someone's gotten in, obviously. Depending on who, this could compromise everything!"_ Slowly backing out of the room, I began to check the other rooms down the hall, but they showed no signs of tampering. As I moved back to the entrance, I heard a shuffling sound coming from the kitchen. Approaching slowly, the shuffling turned to rustling of plates and silverware. Then what sounded like a microwave door being closed came to my ears. _"Whoever got in here is still here! And their rummaging through my fridge?!"_ I summoned my gauntlets and began creeping around into the kitchen. Peeking around the doorframe, I wasn't exactly expecting what was there. Peering at the plate of rotating food inside the microwave was Akame. Dismissing my gauntlets, I continued to creep up on the assassin who was completed preoccupied with her meal. When I was right behind her, I quickly hoisted her into the air by the waist, causing her to let out a small shriek in shock. "Why didn't you tell me you were coming?! AND WHY ARE YOU EATING ALL MY FOOD?!" I questioned while shaking her around. After a few moments of shaking the girl around, I put her back down, she wobbled a bit before falling in to hug my midsection. "You act like you haven't seen me in months… "I said returning the hug. "I can't be glad to see a comrade after a few days?" she questioned. I simply sighed at her when the microwave went off, spurring her to rip away from me and grab her food from the microwave.

"So other than to clean out my refrigerator, why are you here all of a sudden. And why didn't you tell me beforehand?" I questioned once again. Looking up from her plate, she wiped her mouth before speaking, "I've decided to operate from here. With Esdese returning and you being so close to her at the moment, it would just be easier." Processing her explanation, I returned with my own set of questions, "How exactly have you be maneuvering around the city as the most wanted criminal in the capital. And if you acknowledge Esdese being closer to me, why come closer and risk the whole operation?"

"It's not hard to slip into and out of the crowded streets unnoticed, as long as I don't stand out, its fine. Besides, my old base ran out of supplies." She finished her sentence and her plate. "Alright tha- wait YOU DID COME TO EAT ALL MY FOOD!" I shot back. "That's not important, what is important is that I have reason to believe Tatsumi has been captured. I last saw Esdese dragging him off." She stated with a hard look on her face. "That's….that's really bad….what would she want with Tatsumi?!" I said, panicking slightly. "This I'm not sure, but assuming she's still oblivious to what's really going on, I don't think we're screwed just yet." She said. "Well…should we go get him? As long as we steer clear of her, we shouldn't have issue staging a rescue." I suggested. "We can't risk it. She'll likely be lurking around him and it'd be wise not to draw too much attention to ourselves." She advised.

"It'd be in our best interest to continue playing along until something major occurs. Whatever that is, from this point forward, we must exercise extreme caution. This operation has been active a few weeks now and we're nearing our operational limit." She stated. "Okay what do you propose we do then, leave him to get himself out?" I questioned. "Precisely that, staged rescue should be our last resort. The moment Esdese realizes I or any other members are present within the capital walls, the moment she realizes Tatsumi works within Night Raid, the moment she realizes one of us has infiltrated the military, all of that will happen the moment we attempt a rescue. And that is quite a lot of hell I'd rather avoid, so it's up to Tatsumi to free himself.

"There are no other options?!" I pushed further, the panic in my voice becoming more apparent. "That is correct. Unless you believe you believe you're strong enough to face Esdese in single combat. If so, go right along. Otherwise, per Najenda's orders we are to torch this place and pull out within the next days following the end of the tournament. Apparently something else has come up and we need to regroup." She shot back, putting down my objections. "I don't think me up and disappearing will go over very well with Seryu." I stated, bringing up my crazed partner. "That should be the easy part, I'll start a commotion, and then you slip away in the crowd. Scale a building or something, with all the activity on the ground, guards won't think to look up high. If you can't get away, then you'll have to incapacitate Seryu. I've been following her around for the past couple days, observing her and her teigu. It's became clear to me that she gains no clear attributes from wielding the large dog, other than control over it. If you can take her out, then escape the dog, you should be fine. Although this is a last resort as it will expose your true identity." Akame explained. "I think you should be more concerned about your match tomorrow however." She added. "You're right….although I'm not sure who my opponent will be. I'd assume Tatsumi, but he hasn't reported back…" I commented.

"Figure out what your plan is when it comes to that, for now you need to rest." Akame finally suggested, before getting up and leaving the room. "She's right; I need to be ready for whatever comes next." I thought out loud, lying down across the bed. I was dosing off when the door opened once more, and in came Akame once more. "Did you need something?" I questioned. Her face seemed rather red as she opened her mouth to answer, "The spare room is rather cold, do y-you mind if I sleep in here…with you…." She asked sheepishly. At that point my face began to heat up as well. _"This isn't what I meant by 'ready for whatever comes next'…"_ I thought. "S-sure…" I answered with the same level of embarrassment laced in my voice.


End file.
